Thanks for pointing this out. Just checked mine and they were rubbing. You also may want to check out your intercooler tubes. On my passanger side a wire loom was rubbing the tube real bad. I was told dust gets in between and acts like sandpaper. Also, my intercooler tube on the drivers side was rubbing against the fitting on the power steering unit.

 

mine blew about 6 months ago, exact location as yours, "WHILE PULLING IN MY DRIVEWAY". i guess you could call that lucky???

 

That would be called lucky for sure.. I wish I had some of your luck lately !!

 

My power steering hoses failed today because of rust up near the power steering cooling unit.
It happened just as I got to the 1/2 mile long road I needed to plow with 2 feet of snow on it.
First off, I never heard of a power steering cooling 'radiator' and secondly; why the heck would the brakes and the steering be connected to each other ? Things seldom fail in front of a repair place and having 2 things fail at once doesn't make it any safer !!!

Is there a mod to separate the power steering from the brakes ?

F450 4x4

 

First off, the title of this thread is a bit misleading. You had brakes, you just didn't have POWER brakes. I know, damn poor ones at that without assist!

The power brakes and power steering are connected because your diesel engine does not create manifold vacuum like gassers do.

As a result, the "assist" part of your power brakes is done with hydraulic PRESSURE instead of vacuum. It uses the same hydraulic pressure pump that the power steering does, and I suspect you're familiar with that system, so I won't explain it.

Instead of a large vacuum assist diaphragm on the firewall behind the brakes' master cylinder, there's a power unit called a "hydroboost".

Though I have never heard of a "mod" to do it, IF you could somehow add a second "power steering" hydraulic pump, you could run separate systems.

I suspect it would just be easier to thoroughly go over your rigging once-in-a-while to see where problems are developing. Something Americans usually never do.

Anybody that's ever raced anything competitively HAS got that initiative, however, as it's how they avoid racing breakdowns that are otherwise preventable. Many motorcycle racers clean their bike with a toothbrush just to get to the detail where hairline cracks might be seen.

A problem that one of us sees will eventually be seen by others. Now that you've posted your problem with rust developing in a particular area, maybe you could take a photo or two and post them for all of us to see. It'll give us something more for which to inspect on our own trucks, making them even more reliable.

Pop

 

because our trucks are diesel they dont have (any) vacuum that a gasser has. in a gasser vehicle theres oodles of vacuum, that why the brake booster uses a vac set up. back in the day vehicles used the vac to power all kinds of stuff, the wipers, heater controls, cruise control etc.
so we use the hydraulic power from the power steering to help "boost" the brake system. no you cant separate the two in stock setup. but where theres a will.
some gasser vehicles are set up this way as well
im sure that a hydraulic pump, like for a plow, driven by the engine could be set up to run the brakes or steering separated from one another.

just replace the hose and keep an eye on it is way easier. if you lost a hose to rust you better check others and replace them pro actively instead of reactively.

cheers

 

Thanks, guys !

I'm still a little stunned after driving 60 miles home. I knew that because it's a diesel that it didn't have the vacume available but I still think it's stupid to have brakes and steering connected to each other.

I had seen some wetness on the rusty tubes just yesterday when I was repairing the block heater after replacing the driveshaft/u/joints after replacing all the rear brake parts ( because the pads FELL out ! ) ..... I just didn't expect a complete failure and Really needed to plow after the truck was down for 3 weeks.

Another strange problem was that I couldn't get more than 1/2 cup of fluid into the ps resovoir unless the truck was running and then the fan blew the fluid all over the place ....
It wasn't a very good day.....

Truck only has 56,000 miles on it.

I'll take some pics tomorrow.

 

An old horseman's expression is "rode hard and put away wet". Some of us have used it to describe other situations, too.

How would that apply to your truck? Do you do a lot of PM'ing, or are you fixing things just as required?

These things CAN be one of the most reliable machines in existence. A lot depends on maintenance scheduling.

Pop

 

Cardboard to deflect the fan wash, front axle on stands, turn the wheel from lock to lock until topped off if memory serves me.