steering

[brentmel2001]

I am just a wife trying to find information for my husband so I don't know alot, but I do that he is having problems with his steering on a 1972 ford f100. He will be driving along and all of a sudden the steering wheel will start clicking and won't turn the wheels anymore, he has the whole thing torn apart and has tried a new sterring wheel and can't get it to work. Please help!!!!

Also I did print out a page that is on this website with parts and pictures of the steering wheel and it has a bunch of numbers relating to parts does anyone know how I can get the names of those parts that go with the numbers?

Thanks.

[flyboy2610]

It sounds like his steering box needs work.

[crazy larry]

is the coupling that attaches the steering column to the steering box good and tight? (it is a 12 sided 1/2 inch bolt)I had that problem recently. get him to look at it while you turn the wheel, he should easily be able to tell if the input shaft of the steering box is turning or not. if it is, then it sounds like an internal box failure.

usually, if it will turn sometimes but not others, it's a loose coupling. if it turns never at all, that is a shot box.

hope this helps, and good luck, let us know how it turns out. (no pun intended.)

can you link us to the page your wondering about, i'm sure we can label it.

[FORDification]

She's referring to the diagrams down at the bottom of http://www.fordification.com/schematics01.htm .

brentmel2001: keep in mind that the numbers on the diagram are only the middle portion of the Ford part number. It needs a prefix and suffix to be an accurate number.

So you're saying that all of a sudden you simply cannot steer?? Does this clicking sound appear to be actually coming from the steering wheel area or from inside the engine compartment (where the steering column connects to the steering box)? What exactly has he torn apart?

[brentmel2001]

The clicking seems to be under the hood. I did go out and turn the wheel while he listened and found where some bolts were loose, so he tightened those up and it seemed to help for awhile and now it is even worse than what we started with. I don't know what to do...When the clicking starts the steering stops. He can't steer when the clicking is really bad he really has to crank the wheel to get it to go where it is supposed to .

[DuckRyder]

I agree that it sounds like the coupler.

It is number 3a525 in this picture:

http://www.fordification.com/images/sch ... column.jpg

This may not be the EXACT right picture, but the coupler looks the same on all of them. It is directly on top of the steering gear, and has a rubber disc connecting two metal parts. If it has been lose for a long time it is entirely possible that it is stripped to the point that tightening it won't help. It could also have damaged the splines on the gearbox itsself. (that would be bad)

If that is not the problem, then it nearly has to be within the gearbox itself. (also bad)

[flyboy2610]

A new coupling is available from http://www.nationalpartsdepot.com/

They are around $60.