Im posting for my mate in Cali, he just called and asked me a question about his steering that just went, hope you guys can give a bit of input. Its a 55 Crown Vic with power steering. He drove the car no problems , stopped did whatever he was doing got back in started and said steering would only go so far IN BOTH DIRECTIONS , he said its lost a full wheel turn each way?? Also said a lot of play ?  I could only think loose pitman arm??  he said the fluid is fine.. Any ideas?



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

Could be a few things.  Steering box gone bad, power steering ram gone bad,.  Possibly the pump gone bad.  Maybe a bad bearing in the upper steering column.  Thing is to have a professional look at, maybe the first stop a front end shop. 
Put it up in the air and look over to see if it's binding somewhere. 


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

All the items above are good candidates. But having pulled my power steering pump off, and then driven the car down to have it rebuilt, I can tell you those symptoms could also be the connection at the power steering control valve, on the link arm under the car. It needs pressure from the pump to center it, and without it there's a lot of slack. This wouldn't account for the steering wheel not turning, but would account for the wheels not turning. I'd look at that, too.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Yes I first said the control valve , but then I thought if its that bad it wouldn't centre??   I hoping that its nothing too serious, almost all of his car [if not all] has been rebuilt by the previous owner and by the looks of his Crown Vic the guy was very fussy, so fingers crossed.



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"