Power steering rack vibrates...Help?

[Tys Dad]

Here's the story. I have a '96 2WD Explorer Sport that went into a local tire shop for new tires and a brake job. Everything else was working fine until I went and picked it up tonight. I need help in deciding if the shop could have caused the following problems or is it just a coincidence.

Problem #1 - ABS
When the shop went and road tested it after doing the work they noticed that the ABS was actuating very fast at times and the ABS light would come on. They said they put it back on the rack and looked over their work but didn't find anything wrong. When I picked it up I noticed the same thing and they said it was nothing they did but that I needed to get it checked at a dealer. Their fix was to pull the fuse to disable the ABS. They did replace the front rotars and calipers. Is there an alignment of the sensors they may have done incorrectly? Could they have damaged a sensor? Bad bleeding job?

Problem #2 - Power steering rack vibrates
When I tried to drive away from the shop after they pulled the fuse mentioned above, I noticed a serious vibration when trying to turn. (How they missed this during their road test I have no idea.) I felt like either a wheel was loose, wheel bearing coming apart, or something else going south, way south. When I had the manager drive it, it was easy for him to see their was something way wrong. He put it on a lift with the tires off the ground and showed me that when he turned the steering wheel the tires would vibrate left to right. By a couple of inches! Not a safe driving condition. Could they have damageed the power steering rack by applying exsesive force while changing the rotars or removing a stuck wheel bearing? Anyboday ever seen or heard of this?

Like I said above I didn't have either of these problems when it went in. Any help would be great.

Thanks again,
Scott
'96 2WD Explorer Sport

 

[Hartman]

It doesn't seem like you would need a lot of excessive force to get the rotors off of a 2WD, but something seems fishy here. I bet they did something.

 

[Turdle]

I agree, they should make it right. They fu--ed abs sensor up, and probably damaged your tie rods

 

[Tys Dad]

Update...

Called the Ford dealer today and explained the power steering vibration. The dealer said this is caused by turning the tires side to side while the engine is off. This introduces air bubbles into the system and he said I should let it idle for 15 minutes and the problem should go away. I'll give it a try tomorrow and all should be well.

Now onto the ABS problem.

Scott