97 Explorer V8 AWD, is my steering rack bad?

[bandit]

I have '97 Explorer, v8 AWD, wll for the past few months it's had this issue.

This is my wife's car, so i don't drive it too much, but one day I was driving it, and after making a turn, and go stright down the road, the steering wheel would move/shake left and right (it's not a vibration like when the wheels are out of balcance) it's like some one is moving the wheel left and right... plus is pulls to the right (it's been pulling to the right a little, I'm waiting to get new tires to get it alignied) but it's seems to be doning it more so now...

There is no noise coming from the rack or the pump, and the fluid level is fine.
And you can turn all the way left and right fine.

I also jacked up the front end, and tried to sake both wheels, and grabed and tried to shake the tie-rods... and I can't find anything loose.. eveything looks fine. There are now PS leaks either.

The exploer has a bout 143k miles on it.


Also, my wife says on cold morning it dosen't sake that bad, and when it does skake, it will usally stop after a while going straight... some times it does it more then others.

It's strange, when it's shaking you can let go of the wheel and watch it turn left and right.

So could this be the steering rack? the steering box is built into the rack right?

 

[MountaineerGreen]

It's probably air in the PS system. Jack up the front end, remove the cap from the tank on the pump. Start the engine, turn the wheel almost lock to lock a few times. I'll bet it will help. Racks rarely go bad, and yes the box and rack are the same thing.

 

[bandit]

I've tired that a few weeks ago... didn't help...
plus unless there was a leak and fulid loss, how would air get in there?

I really don't know what else to do...

btw - speed is not a factor either, becuase it will do it just after leaving a stop, or it will do it at 50.... some days it's worst then others.. and most of the time on cold days it will hardly do it, or if it does, it's not as bad.

could the steering box cause anything like this?

I ruled out the pump, I figured it's either pumping or not, and if not the steering would be hard like maunel steering... like I said it steers fine... and easy.... it's just this dang jerking left and right...

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Well, you may have a bad rack then. Unfortunately, I don't know of a good way to diagnose a bad rack

You can try some fresh fluid- use a turkey baster to suck the old fluid out, add fresh fluid. You may try some Lucas PS fluid, it can't hurt anything. That would be something quick and easy to try before replacing the rack.

I can offer some pointers on replacing the rack if necessary.

 

[bandit]

hmm, yeah, I give that a shot...

Sure, I would love some pointers on replacing it...


Update: Ok, I just went out and sucked all the fulid out, and re-fill'ed, ran, and turned the wheel left and right a bunch of times, shut off, and repeated 2 more times... there are no bubbles (never seen any).

I took it for a ride and it's doing the same thing... BUT I gave wrong info... I was able to go to a back road... I came to a stop and let it coast... it's not turnning left and right, it is just turning right... (it seemed like it was going left and right when you hold the wheel) but with no hands on the wheel it will bump right, the bump again, and then bump again (about 1 sec apart)..

so, would being out of alignment cause this? (it has always driffted to the right the past couple of years) but now your fighting to keep it straight.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I've never seen symptoms like that before, its hard to say. I don't think alignment would make the wheel bump like that. The rack could be bad then. I have to warn you, its not an easy task, especially with the 5.0. But it can be done.

Remove front tires.

Disconnect tie rod from knuckles.

Remove outer tie rods.

Take a long screw driver, pry the metal band that holds the boot on the drivers side of the rack loose, pull the boot off the rack.

Turn the wheel all the way to the drivers side, you can see the inner tie rod. Use a pipe wrench to remove the inner tie rod. Crank the rack back fully to the other direction.

Lock the steering wheel- you'll see why later.

Now, the crappy part. Remove the drivers side rubber skirt from the fender well. Use an 18mm wrench, loosen the motor mount nuts. Don't remove them, just take them all the way up to the top of the studs.

Leave that for now-

Remove the pinch bolt from the intermediate steering shaft, pull the steering shaft up off the rack. The pinch bolt is kind of a pain to remove, get a helper to rotate the shaft to face the bolt forward so you can reach it. Make sure the steering wheel is locked, if you rotate the wheel too much with the rack removed, you can damage the clock spring, a bad thing to do.

Remove the two lines from the rack, I believe they are 13mm. A flare nut wrench is helpful, not necessary. Pay attention to the location of the lines, one is a return, the other is power, if they are inverted, it causes problems.

Remove the bolts that hold the rack to the subframe. Use a socket and extension, there are holes in the bottom of the sub frame to access the bolts. You'll need a wrench to hold the nuts on top of the rack.

Remove the hoses from the PS cooler, it should come off now that you have the bolts out.

This is where it gets tricky, use a wooden block and a jack, raise the motor slightly by the oil pan.

Wiggle the rack around, I can't remember exactly how I did it, but with the engine raised, you can twist the rack around and move it out. It can be done. The first time, it took me a while to get it, be patient. If you can't get it out, remove the other inner tie rod and boot, it may help.

Put the new rack in, pushing it to the passenger side just like you removed your old one so that you can reconnect your steering shaft. You may have to unlock your wheel, have someone rotate it ever so slightly so that you can slip the shaft back onto the rack.

Reinstall it in the approximate opposite order.

This is an approximation of what to do, its been over a year since I replaced my rack, I am pulling all of this from memory.

 

[Pensa]

Before replacing the rack try rotating the tires front to back. It is possible you have a tire giving you trouble.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

^^^ Good Point ^^^

 

[96eb96]

Also, check your balljoints as per these directions. Note how the control arm is supported.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203597

Also, check your brakes and rotors. I've seen something like this happen on a T-bird (similar rack and pinon) from a semi seized caliper and and a warped rotor. Heatng and cooling of the rotor can change its characteristic.

 

[1997green]

My explorer is doing the same thing, had the pump replaced and has only got worse since then. Cannot find anything wrong with it at all. I guess I will replace the rack some day. Mine has been doing it for about 2 months and seemed to level off and not been getting worse.

 

[bandit]

Also, check your balljoints as per these directions. Note how the control arm is supported.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203597

Also, check your brakes and rotors. I've seen something like this happen on a T-bird (similar rack and pinon) from a semi seized caliper and and a warped rotor. Heatng and cooling of the rotor can change its characteristic.

I'm a little confused on that ball joint test... when I checked mine I just raised the font end...


Tell me if I'm wrong, but is this saying, to raise the front end, then also put a jack under the LCA to be checked and raise that also? if so, how much should it be raised?
Then just try to pull the bottom of the tire in and out?

 

[bandit]

I've never seen symptoms like that before, its hard to say. I don't think alignment would make the wheel bump like that. The rack could be bad then. I have to warn you, its not an easy task, especially with the 5.0. But it can be done.

Remove front tires.

Disconnect tie rod from knuckles.

Remove outer tie rods.

Take a long screw driver, pry the metal band that holds the boot on the drivers side of the rack loose, pull the boot off the rack.

Turn the wheel all the way to the drivers side, you can see the inner tie rod. Use a pipe wrench to remove the inner tie rod. Crank the rack back fully to the other direction.

Lock the steering wheel- you'll see why later.

Now, the crappy part. Remove the drivers side rubber skirt from the fender well. Use an 18mm wrench, loosen the motor mount nuts. Don't remove them, just take them all the way up to the top of the studs.

Leave that for now-

Remove the pinch bolt from the intermediate steering shaft, pull the steering shaft up off the rack. The pinch bolt is kind of a pain to remove, get a helper to rotate the shaft to face the bolt forward so you can reach it. Make sure the steering wheel is locked, if you rotate the wheel too much with the rack removed, you can damage the clock spring, a bad thing to do.

Remove the two lines from the rack, I believe they are 13mm. A flare nut wrench is helpful, not necessary. Pay attention to the location of the lines, one is a return, the other is power, if they are inverted, it causes problems.

Remove the bolts that hold the rack to the subframe. Use a socket and extension, there are holes in the bottom of the sub frame to access the bolts. You'll need a wrench to hold the nuts on top of the rack.

Remove the hoses from the PS cooler, it should come off now that you have the bolts out.

This is where it gets tricky, use a wooden block and a jack, raise the motor slightly by the oil pan.

Wiggle the rack around, I can't remember exactly how I did it, but with the engine raised, you can twist the rack around and move it out. It can be done. The first time, it took me a while to get it, be patient. If you can't get it out, remove the other inner tie rod and boot, it may help.

Put the new rack in, pushing it to the passenger side just like you removed your old one so that you can reconnect your steering shaft. You may have to unlock your wheel, have someone rotate it ever so slightly so that you can slip the shaft back onto the rack.

Reinstall it in the approximate opposite order.

This is an approximation of what to do, its been over a year since I replaced my rack, I am pulling all of this from memory.

do you need to remove the sway bar?
Also, if I pry the metal band of the boot, how do I replace it? the new one comes with new boot right? and the band's to put back on? I didn't even know there were tie-rod's in there, I thought that was just the shafts from the rack that the outer tie-rods are connected to. (I did grab that whole shaft and tried to move it checking for play, which there was non)

BTW - I forgot to mention, I noticed the pass-side front seat shaking/vibrating when driving down the road..

 

[96eb96]

I'm a little confused on that ball joint test... when I checked mine I just raised the font end...


Tell me if I'm wrong, but is this saying, to raise the front end, then also put a jack under the LCA to be checked and raise that also? if so, how much should it be raised?
Then just try to pull the bottom of the tire in and out?

If you raise the front end you are not taking all weight off the wheels, and the ball joints may not show problems.

Lift it the same way you would change a tire. Use a jackstand under the LCA for safety. Shake the tire and observe any movement. Only a very small amount is allowed. This is the factory suggested way to check ball joints.

 

[bandit]

more info

Got more info, My wife paid more attendtion, seems to do the jerking to the right more @ low speed, when she get's it up to 50, she can have one hand on the wheel and it seems fine...(smooth's out)


Like I said, the test I did yesterday, letting it coast from a stop (so it was going 2-5mph @ the most) it would jerk to the right (steering wheel would turn, a sec whould go by and it would turn more, then again, ect..)

So this make me think there is a spot that rotates (like the rotor or wheel).

But I do remember a month ago, when I had the front off the ground spining the wheels and didn't notice any thing dragging...

but tonight I will jack it back up, pull the front wheels, swap them and see if the problem follows (that will check the tire) I will also check rotor, and break pads to see if that side is worn down more (that should indacate a draging caliber)

 

[Joe Dirt]

Sounds like something is sticking if it actually grabs like that. I had a similar steering wheel "nibble" on my 2004 F-150. The newer F-150 owners are dealing with this constantly, maybe this thread will give you some ideas?

CLICK ME

Been everything from reindexing driveshafts, to replacing tires, road force balancing, brakes, racks... Yikes. I ended up switching jobs and turned my truck in, and I never got it fixed on my F-150.

 

[viper.87]

I had the very same problem with the same symptoms, after checking everything I could think of I discovered that both my front tires were "cupped". Replaced tires and problem disapered.

Viper.87