Anyone ever experience any power steering issues with our trucks?? My 04' FX4 Screw 5.4L...when I'm turning the wheel, it intermittenly gets hard to turn, almost like the power assist gives out, but then returns..so it sort of jerks the wheel. Also...when you make a turn, and let go of the wheel, itn only returns itself about 80% of the way...then stops...then you must manually turn the wheel back straight with the feeling of no power assist. This happened just all-of-a-sudden one day. I checked the lines and fluid level....no leaks visable and the fluid is full. Some techs I have talked to are saying its probably the fault of the power steering pump. Does not look to be a hard job...but before I spend over $100 on a pump, and my labor to change it....I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem and what it was. Thanks!!!

Mr86GT

 

Took my '04 2WD F150 in to the dealership today. I was having the same problem only my problem started several weeks ago with stiff steering and advanced from there. They came back that the shaft in the column is bent and because of this it is seizing up. Not sure if the service guy knew the name of the part that was bad. He did say that it was unsafe to drive because it could eventually seize. They must order the part from Detroit. I am here in Illinois so I probably won't get my truck back until after the weekend. I will let you know more when I get it back. Thank God I took out the extended warranty. He did say that he has seen this problem only a couple of other times.

 

I know this is an old thread but was wondering if the pump was the problem?

I am having the same problem.

Thanks

 

Does anyone know if Ford sells a u joint for the lower steering shaft?

 

They do not....you can only buy the 2 halves of the steering shaft. I found my problem....my lower steering u-joint, as you indicated, seems to be the culprit. I do not have the cash or time to replace it at the moment....so what I've been doing....and it worked for over a YEAR now....is spray the crap out of the boot and u-joint area with a good penetrating oil....I use PB-Blaster....right after I sprayed it the first time...my problem was instantly fixed. I have sprayed it only about 3 more times in a year....and the steering is back to perfect working order. I'm going to just keep doing this as long as I can, until it stops working....but over a year....and still working well. Try it.

Mr86GT

 

Thanks!

I'm going to give it a try and see if it helps, if that's it I'll replace it, you can get one at Napa for around $65. That's alot better than $200 for OEM that fails just the same.

http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPage...Steering+Shaft

vs..


https://www.trademotion.com/partloca...=2&catalogid=1