Hard spots in steering. Any helpful hints to a diagnosis?

[Rob Klotz]

I just bought a '00 xlt 4 door 4wd Explorer. The steering was a little hard constantly so I added LUCAS. The problem seemed to be getting better. The little lady took it out for the night and said she added some fluid ( LUCAS) because it wasn't full. She was trying, But now it has hard spots. Three to the left same three too the right.
Should I change all the fluid and replace with Lucas? Is there a certain order in which to bleed the lines? Not sure about racks and power steering. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome rob

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the stock 95-01 section. Drain all of the fluid, and use power steering fluid only. Drive it for about 10 or 20 miles, and see if the problem goes away. You could add a little WD-40 if it still feels like it has hard spots after this amount of driving.

 

[Turdle]

I just bought a '00 xlt 4 door 4wd Explorer. The steering was a little hard constantly so I added LUCAS. The problem seemed to be getting better. The little lady took it out for the night and said she added some fluid ( LUCAS) because it wasn't full. She was trying, But now it has hard spots. Three to the left same three too the right.
Should I change all the fluid and replace with Lucas? Is there a certain order in which to bleed the lines? Not sure about racks and power steering. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169840&highlight=intermediate+shaft&page=3

Look at the shaft in this thread. Toward the steering rack end is a u joint.
Since your "tight spots" are evenly spaced I bet the u joint is dry or worn.