Tomster

The steering wheel was hard to turn on my 2006 F150 Super Cab 4x4 at times. The wheel would turn normally and then get real hard to turn. The problem kept getting worse and I finally took my truck to my local mechanic.

He replaced the power steering pump but he told me that the truck might need further work. He was right; the steering really wasn't any better after the pump replacement.

It turned out that I needed a new intermediate steering shaft. That fixed the problem.

I have read posts on here where guys just used some penetrating oil on the U-joints on either end of the intermediate steering shaft but I wonder if that is really a long term fix?

Just thought I would post this info in case anyone else is wondering what is going on with his steering.

Tomster

jamie930

I took mine out and drench it and work the crap out it then coated it in grease and the was 8-9 months ago

Tomster

Great! Hope that repair holds up for you for the long run.

I might have suggested that to my mechanic but I didn't know about it then. It could be he knew about that trick, though, because they showed me the old part and told me how hard it was to get those U-Joints freed-up. Maybe they just thought my ISS was too far gone to save.

Tom

techrep

iTrader: (1)

sounds to me like your mechanic replace a perfectly good power steering pump at your expense and then a shaft that just needed greased...boy you got the shaft !!

Tomster

I don't think so. He said the pump was bad and that if I had driven the truck very long with the new pump without the ISS being replaced, it would have messed up the new pump too.

It is my understanding that the U-joints are not supposed to be grease-able. Maybe they can be freed-up with penetrating oil and maybe that would prove to be a long term fix. I hope so for those who have done that.

This mechanic does his best to save his customers money. I was told at the service department at at GM dealership that I needed a catalytic converter on my 2004 Impala. I took it to this guy and asked him to put a converter on it. He did some checking and told me that he thought it only needed a new O2 sensor and that the catalytic converter might be OK after the car had been driven for a while with the new O2 sensor. He said the built-up crud in the converter would likely burn-off. He was right! I never did have to have a converter put on it.

He could have put a new converter on it because I specifically asked him to do that. But he wanted to save me some money. That's the kind of guy that he is.

Tom

jamie930

I am sorry but I do not see how the shaft could mess up the new pump. The shaft connects the steering wheel to the steering rack. The pump provides the pressure to operate the rack. Stiff u joints on the shaft is what made it seem hard to turn. Not the lack of pressure to the rack

Tomster

Makes sense to me that the frozen U-joints would bind-up the steering and cause the pump to work harder. The steering wheel was sure hard to turn, like the truck did not even have power steering.

I'm not a mechanic, so I just took my mechanic's word for it.

Tom

techrep

iTrader: (1)

BS...

Tomster

You are an amazing person, techrep.

You have never met my mechanic but you know that he rips off his customers. (I guess he was having an off day when he saved me the cost of a catalytic converter by telling me to stay with the old one to see if it would come back, which it did.)

You have not seen the power steering pump that he replaced but you know that it was perfectly fine.

You have not seen the intermediate steering shaft that was replaced but you know that it could have been salvaged.

Amazing!

techrep

iTrader: (1)

What I do know...is your problem which you said was a frozen steering shaft u-joint, which could of be fixed by greasing it up..was improperley troubleshot to a bad power steering pump...which was replaced and you said it made no improvement...what does that tell you right there ?? good thing he troubleshot your o2 sensor correctly or he would of cost you a new cat.. don't know how much he charged you to replace your steering shaft..I know if you don't have enough knowledge to do your own work you have to trust somebody else...I just don't think the pump was bad...don't make sense to me...glad its all fixed...