Stiff Steering

[shuayjye]

okay... so hopefully fixed the brake issue... bleed the lines until clearish liquid came out (though the new fliud is clear). Thinking might need to eventually do a brake system clean... need to look it up though.

Back to the issue at hand. So now my truck is up on jack stands with the wheels off. Would now be a good time to look over my steering system? There is about 1/6 of a turn of play clockwise (counter clockwise no issue) along with the stiff steering at low speeds (three point turns suck along with backing into a spot). Since my truck is up I am hoping this would be a good chance to soo everything work or not working. I will make another thread on baselining my truck since that is not a topic for this catagory.

Oh and you were right, disc in the front and brums in the back. Need one new bleeder valve as it didnt work

[shuayjye]

Okay, found the picture... last time my wife turned the wheel and stopped when there was resistance I could see fluid coming out from the red area. Is there a seal I can replace or just see if the bolts need tightening? I am hoping that will stop the fluid from leaking and solve the stiff steering issue. Assuming that that is the issue. Then I can concentrate on fixing the loose steering

[ToughOldFord]

While it is up, grab the tire top and bottom and see if you can move it pull top-push bottom, then push top, pull bottom. If there is a lot of slack you're looking at kingpins. A little is okay, just don't want excessive movement. Do this test both sides.

Then do the same test grabbing the tire left and right and push-pull in both directions. If there is slack here that's tire rods and/or pitman arm. Helps to have a helper here so you can look at what parts are moving while the tire's being rocked back and forth.

Common fail parts on old twin I beams are the swing axle pivot bushings and the radius arm bushings. Don't be surprised if they're shot and in worse cases missing.

Rag joint's a common failure item too, it's the rubber coupler that joins the steering shaft to the top of the steering box's input shaft. This will cause freeplay. Another item that helps to have a helper, they can move the steering wheel back and forth while you look under the hood for freeplay at this joint.

[ToughOldFord]

Okay, found the picture... last time my wife turned the wheel and stopped when there was resistance I could see fluid coming out from the red area. Is there a seal I can replace or just see if the bolts need tightening? I am hoping that will stop the fluid from leaking and solve the stiff steering issue. Assuming that that is the issue. Then I can concentrate on fixing the loose steering

That nut/stud towards the top of your circle is for adjusting the gear tension inside the gearbox. Don't mess with it until you've read up on the procedure. Usually doesn't need tampering anyway.

If you're leaking from there, that's a new one on me, never seen that. There probably is an oring in there though.

I think you need to clean the top of that steering box, it almost looks like a crack going through the top of the housing where you have that circle. If it is cracked it's not safe to drive. Can't really tell though, it may just be all the caked on grease.

[ToughOldFord]

Here, I put a line where I thought it looked like there might be a crack. Looking closer though I am thinking it's just grease.