Ford Explorer--Cold Weather? Stiff Steering?

[mbruffey]

Steering impossibly stiff in really cold weather, say 10F and below? Quick check/fix: follow the steering shaft down from the firewall to the knuckle. Spray a generous dose of PB Blaster in the boot. Success? Follow with some kind of penetrating spray grease in the near future. [Posted because I could not find this fix easily in the searches I did (except buried deep in maybe a thread or two). PB Blaster worked for me immediately in this case.] Mark

 

[coonerboy]

What did you spay the penetrant on? The steering shaft does not go to the knuckle. It goes to the rack and pinion. Did you spray the tie rod end?

If thats the case, and there are no grease fittings on the tie rod end, you may be needing new tie rod ends soon. That light penetrating oil wont last very long and it would be difficult to get a spray grease up into the ball/socket joint of a tie rod end. As a cheap and easy temporary fix though, it might be worth a shot.

 

[mbruffey]

Mine has a knuckle between the *firewall* and the steering box. The rubber boot around it is open at the top. I sprayed PB Blaster right in that hole. Instant, and I mean instant results. Its a 97 5.0 AWD. Perhaps not all models have the knuckle. Mine does. Mark

 

[1996EB]

Great suggestion. This was exactly the fix for my problem and my vehicle is a 96 EB with 4L OHV and 4x4. I sprayed a variety of penetrating oils through the boot and finished off with a generous application of lithium grease.