swapping out lower steering shaft


Pistons23

15+ Year Member

Joined
Sep 4, 2007
Messages
634
Points
3,101
City
Fresno CA
Vehicle Year
2000
Transmission
Automatic
a while ago i noticed that the boot covering the pivot joint on the lower steering shaft was torn. so i started to look for a new one. last week i came across someone parting out a 99 ranger. so i picked up the steering shaft for $25. i also have a clicking sensation coming through the steering wheel. it does it whether going straight or turning. and its about once every second. the balljoints and tie rod ends look good. i checked all the lug nuts. so i THINK i have it narrowed down to the rack and pinion or the power steering pump. who know, maybe its the steering shaft i haven replaced yet. so my question is, what should i inspect while im swapping out the lower shaft?

oh, and i also jacked up the front(with the engine off) end and slowly turned the wheel and and couldnt hear or feel anything. but when i turned the engine on with the wheels on the ground i could feel it.
 
Pistons23 said:
a while ago i noticed that the boot covering the pivot joint on the lower steering shaft was torn. so i started to look for a new one. last week i came across someone parting out a 99 ranger. so i picked up the steering shaft for $25. i also have a clicking sensation coming through the steering wheel. it does it whether going straight or turning. and its about once every second. the balljoints and tie rod ends look good. i checked all the lug nuts. so i THINK i have it narrowed down to the rack and pinion or the power steering pump. who know, maybe its the steering shaft i haven replaced yet. so my question is, what should i inspect while im swapping out the lower shaft?

oh, and i also jacked up the front(with the engine off) end and slowly turned the wheel and and couldnt hear or feel anything. but when i turned the engine on with the wheels on the ground i could feel it.
Click to expand...


Suspension should be loaded when you check for play in balljoints/tie rods...if you don't know how to do this/what it feels like when they are bad let someone who does do it.

Clicking sound could be any number of things. But I will say that 95% of the time when a rack goes "bad" it spews fluid...no sounds, just a lovely spray of hydraulic fluid everywhere...or sometimes just out one of the boots on the end. (covering inner tie rod joint).

clicking could be dirt/gravel in the spring seat, or an improperly seated spring...but eventually it will seat itself...

clicking can be a tie rod or ball joint, but they generally lend towards other issues.

clicking could be sooo many things.

Before removing the old shaft lock your steering wheel in its current location...or you'll likely end up with an issue.
 
i do tend to go from lock to lock when parallel parking. so maybe that damaged something. it just showed up one day.
 
ok, just went out to the truck to see if i can get a better description. with the engine on, i turned the wheel from left to right slowly. while turning right i can hear clicking. while turning left i hear it maybe once or twice. im not sure if its a "clunk" like people describe when there is a bad balljoint. all the boots appear to be in good condition. the truck has 167k miles so the appearance may be decieving. so should i just try and shoot some wd-40 in the balljoint boots and find out which one it is by order of elimination? any dieas?
 
NO. WD40= bad...

If its a balljoint then the noise is due to excessive movement in the joint itself. many times the boot bears no resemblence to the actual internal condition of the joint.

If it has a grease fitting on it, then it should be greased regularly...if it doesn't (doubt this is the case) then its sealed and in theory doesn't need lubrication.
 
yeah there isnt a single grease fitting on the truck. dont know why ford did that

*UPDATE*
switched out the lower steering shaft. made no difference whatsoever. but the boot was torn and there was some surface rust in the pivot joint. so thats taken care of.

also, i jacked up each of the wheels one at a time. then i stuck a pry bar under the wheel to see if there was any play up and down. there wasnt. then i wiggled it from side to side. there doesnt seem to be any play.

i managed to grip the steering shaft and move it about 1/8 turn to the right and got it to make the tapping sound. the sound isnt very audible, but i can feel it through my hands when i gripped it. its almost like someones tapping the shaft with a ball peen hammer. it only does it when i turn to the right, not the left(atleast i noticed this when parked slowly turning from left to right). i really dont think its the balljoints or tie rod ends. it just doesnt sound like what everyone is dscribing about a bad ball joint. the only thing i can think of now is the steering box or the pump itself.
 
well i called up my friend, hes coming over later. im going to have him turn the wheel slowly while im under the hood to see if i can locate it. also, while searching google, my problem sounds similar to the problem that the 2007 fx4 models have. some have had the dealer replace the intermediate shaft, lower steering shaft and the tie rods. could it be the intermediate shaft? if its the tie rods then thats an easy fix
 
damn this is bugging me. i went outside to see if i can get it to make that noise again with the engine off. well it did. and again it only makes that noise while turning right. hopefully i get this figured out soon
 
terribly hard to diagnose from internet....

Lay under the car when friend turns wheel to left and right...watch each joint...for slight movement....

if none then it could also be play in the gearbox. but make sure you don't overtighten the gearbox...you'll get to replace it if you do.

really hard to say without laying hands on the car.
 
alright, its seems to be coming from the rack. im giong to drain the steering fluid a few times today. then refill and add some lucas oil stop leak. hopefully theres just air in the system and it didnt do any damage
 
quick question, would valvoline maxlife power steering fluid do any damage? hte manual calls for mercon atf, but when i flushed it last time i used the maxlife. i called their techline and they said it meets the mercon v specs.
 
well i didnt get around to changing hte fluid. on another forum someone was experiencing a similar problem. turned out to be hte inner tie rods. looked on youtube and found some pretty good videos showing what a bad inner tied rod acts like. gonna check this tomorow
 
seems to be some play in the drivers side tie rod. not sure if its the inner or outer.
 
turned out to be the passenger side inner tie rod. there was absolutley no play in any of the steering. but once i popped off the tie rod from the knuckle, the passenger side was making the noise i was hearing. swapped it out this morning and the noise is gone. case closed.
 
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