Power Steering Assist Failure

[85_Ranger4x4]

Pretty sure I've relayed this info here before but just in case I haven't..

Ford engineers their vehicles with the goal of 95% of them lasting 150k miles before something serious happens that would have most people decide to just go buy a new vehicle.

And major mechanical failure is not the cause of death for most vehicles.

It is an insurance total. Tree falls on it, gets in an accident, gets flooded, storm damage etc.

 

[sgtsandman]

Is there any kind of a seal on the thing that dumped water out?

Waterproofing that may be a worthwhile endeavor for those that like to play submarine commander...

My guess, looking at how the rack is put together, the water intrusion is where the motor mounts on the rack. They do seal there but the quality of they RTV they used doesn't seem all that great. The only other possible points of entry are at the boots on the ends of the rack where the inner tie rod ends thread into the rack. Unless, of course, a water seal for one of the electrical connections fail. That would seem to cause an electrical failure rather than one that makes the rack freeze solid until it warms up.

I can't speak Robert's issue since his is different than mine.

Once I get my steering rack out, I'll take a look at where the damage is. When turning the steering, you can hear a rough sound like sand or something is in the rack. Probably caused by corrosion.

 

[Robert Mangrum]

Yes it has some sealant but no gasket or anything. We have some marine hull strength sealant here at work. Im planning on putting a bead round it when we open a new tube. I will apply it with a brush. Its up under so looks aren't important. Ive also been through water crossings as deep as the hood numerous times haha. So what water came out was surprisingly small. If your not supposed to go deeper than hubs I would have to stop riding most my routes haha. Ive always heard you've got to pay to play. This was a small expense compared to all the fun I've had and will have with my truck. I keep the old tie rod ends and threw them in my spare parts with a custom driver's rear brake line haha. Might should throw the inners in there too. They seem like the weak link.

 

[bobbywalter]

the belt. the water....corrosion on the board may be the issue...but junk in the jack screw is hell on the belt.

 

[Blmpkn]

And major mechanical failure is not the cause of death for most vehicles.

It is an insurance total. Tree falls on it, gets in an accident, gets flooded, storm damage etc.

Apart from unfortunate early death by any of the means you listed though.. id wager vehicles generally get run until something mechanically catastrophic happens (albeit perhaps not always by the original owner..) A little different in the salt belt of course.. a lot of stuff that's still mechanically sound will get scrapped simply because it's structurally FUBAR'd and won't take a sticker without needing to spend an exorbitant amount of money on rust repair.. but salt belt states are the minority I believe.

The things id give to live somewhere conducive to keeping a daily driven vehicle rust free for 4 decades with minimal effort..

 

[Robert Mangrum]

Apart from unfortunate early death by any of the means you listed though.. id wager vehicles generally get run until something mechanically catastrophic happens (albeit perhaps not always by the original owner..) A little different in the salt belt of course.. a lot of stuff that's still mechanically sound will get scrapped simply because it's structurally FUBAR'd and won't take a sticker without needing to spend an exorbitant amount of money on rust repair.. but salt belt states are the minority I believe.

The things id give to live somewhere conducive to keeping a daily driven vehicle rust free for 4 decades with minimal effort..

Heck come on down to TN. Everyone else is haha. I agree though. Most people would have traded in or something for an issue this size. I called my local Ford parts distributor. They wanted $2800 for it with our discount through work. Plus a $600 core charge. Rock Auto and Parts Geek had it for around $1400 remanufactured with a $400 core. I cant imagine what labor to swap it would be. Of course a 2wd would be considerably easier. @sgtsandman sent me the Ford instructions and diagrams. Which i really appreciated. That being said. I think they didn't account for 4wd applications. It had no mention of removing the tie rods. But that was the only way I could get it to swing the steering shaft around the front of the motor. Ive seen on some FB groups as soon as they have trans problems they run and trade it in and post all their problems. I know a few here have replaced the little valve thingy "brain fart" and its fixed their bucking. Im willing to tackle most projects. Im not gonna attemp a 10R80 rebuild or anything haha. This was my first rack and pinion swap. Ive been driving on it for 3 days now. So I guess I did OK. Granted I haven't left town or drove above 45mph yet. I have an alignment scheduled for Friday. Just trying to limit miles till then.

 

[Blmpkn]

Heck come on down to TN. Everyone else is haha. I agree though. Most people would have traded in or something for an issue this size. I called my local Ford parts distributor. They wanted $2800 for it with our discount through work. Plus a $600 core charge. Rock Auto and Parts Geek had it for around $1400 remanufactured with a $400 core. I cant imagine what labor to swap it would be. Of course a 2wd would be considerably easier. @sgtsandman sent me the Ford instructions and diagrams. Which i really appreciated. That being said. I think they didn't account for 4wd applications. It had no mention of removing the tie rods. But that was the only way I could get it to swing the steering shaft around the front of the motor. Ive seen on some FB groups as soon as they have trans problems they run and trade it in and post all their problems. I know a few here have replaced the little valve thingy "brain fart" and its fixed their bucking. Im willing to tackle most projects. Im not gonna attemp a 10R80 rebuild or anything haha. This was my first rack and pinion swap. Ive been driving on it for 3 days now. So I guess I did OK. Granted I haven't left town or drove above 45mph yet. I have an alignment scheduled for Friday. Just trying to limit miles till then.

What year is your truck? It's a COMPLETE crapshoot whether or not a pre-22.5MY ranger will have its trans take a dump long before it should. The problem is pretty well documented by this point.. Lord knows I don't trust AI but the below overview actually sums up the issue accurately.

As I said.. every ranger pre 22.5 truck has a good chance of this happening. That being said... It seems like as long as your trans can make it to 100k.. it *should* be alright.. most failures seem to happen between 50-75k miles.

Initially.. Ford thought that replacing the valve body would fix the problem.. replaced a lot of them and still had failures. There WERE issues with the valve body.. yes.. but it wasn't the valve bodies fault. It's thanks to the faulty CDF drum.. loss of pressure obviously means slipping and slipping of course means a lot wear on the frictions & steels.. all those ferrous contaminants wind up getting stuck to the solenoids in the VB and muff everything up even further.