De-powered Steering Rack

[BattleBeater]

Hey guys,

My 98 Ranger has a steering rack that has sprung a leak, which combined with a dying power steering pump and cracking lines means I'm probably looking to replace the entire system.

As a point of idle curiosity before buying all that, has anyone de-powered a Ranger steering rack? It occurred to me that it could be significantly cheaper, simpler, and lighter to ditch the p/s entirely and I'm curious if it's been done. As there doesn't seem to be an available manual rack, the idea would be to do a complete de-power as is commonly done in Mazda RX7s and the like, where a power rack is torn apart, fluid pistons cut out, greased, and reassembled.

I'm not particularly concerned with civility (my driver's seat is a fixed-back bucket, hardly a Cadillac ), but if it'll make the steering too heavy to turn reasonably quickly at speed I'll just order new P/S parts.

 

[RonD]

'98 might be tough, earlier Rangers came with manual steering, power assist was an option, '83 to '97 I think, but most sold were power assist.
Swapping these years would just be a matter of finding a manual steering Ranger at a wrecker and swapping it over to yours, but they are probably scarce as hen's teeth, lol.

In '98 they switch to rack and pinion and only offered power assist, they also changed the front suspension from Twin I-beam to IFS (Independent Front Suspension) in '98

Since you have a '98 not sure what parts you would have to change over, could be pretty much the whole front end.

 

[BattleBeater]

I'm keeping my front suspension (I don't want the unsprung weight of an i-beam setup, even if the travel is better), which I get rules out any stock manual steering option- the idea is to take a 98-up Ranger standard cab power-assisted rack, disassemble it, cut the power assist pistons out of it, and plug the fluid passages, in effect creating a manual rack. Given that the standard cab rack is 4.0 turns lock to lock, the ratio is very similar to many sporty car manual racks that feel just fine; what I'm wondering is if the steering feel will be too heavy in a Ranger given that it's heavier in the nose than the cars I've driven with manual racks.

 

[SenorNoob]

I know there is potential for damage, but wouldn't it be possible to temporarily disconnect the lines to get a feel for the steering that way?

 

[BattleBeater]

You know, for all the reading and research I've been doing, it just hadn't occurred to me to try that. I feel kinda dim, haha. I have to replace the lines and pump if I retain the P/S anyway, so I'm really out nothing to try it. While it will have a little more resistance than a full depower (still fluid and seals inside the rack), it should be a pretty good hint at what it'll be like. Thanks!

 

[ricardo93]

With or without power steering turning while in motion is easy and because these trucks arent that heavy its relatively simple to steer without power assist... it just takes time to get used too... my question is can you just remove the pump and plug the holes on the steering box after removing the pump?