When my Cougar is on a lift, very hard to manually (by hand) turn front wheels. Once you turn a wheel in or out some it turns much easier. Is this a steering box or power assist issue?
You are going to need to elaborate on this. Is the car running? Are you attempting the turn the wheel by hand at the actual front wheel? Why are you doing this? It works best if you can explain what it is that seems wrong.
No car is not running. Yes we turned the wheels by hand…in and out.The power steering assist seems stiff not like my friends steering. There is no play in the steering wheel. When the tires are straight it is very hard to turn them in or out but after they are pushed in/out some it gets much easier to turn them. Pushing by hand.
Sounds pretty much normal. How’s it working with the engine running and turning the steering wheel?
Stiff more than it should. You can feel a change in steering about just off straight. Is it normal for the tires to be so hard to turn by hand for a little bit then get substantially easier?
The car is normally running when anyone steers it.
As mention, there’s no specification or requirements for what it feels like when turning by hand.
That said, Lots of things can change how it “feels”. Tires, contact surface, caster settings, etc. My guess is that you caster and/or camber setting are way different then the other Cougar you are comparing it to. This will definitely change the feel while driving.
I am not making myself clear I suppose. The steering is stiff when driving and you can feel a change when you steer from straight, turn the steering wheel to left or right. We put the car on a lift, tires off the ground. Manually turning the wheels inward or outward from straight with hands on tires, you can barely push the tires in or out. Once you push tire in or outward a few inches it gets free and you can push them in or out fairly easily. You can hardly push the tires from straight but once they move from straight they move much easier. Can this be be normal? Is steering box to tight or power assist problem?
Some one has adjusted the steering box way to tight
It must be adjusted when the box travel is centered from right/left. I would back off the jam nut and the adj screw a couple turns , center the box (not the steering wheel) and carefully tighten the adjusting screw while turning the wheel slightly right and left. Just bring it down till the play is gone. Lock the jam nut while holding the adj screw. Im sure the factory shop manual has more info
Good luck
Agree with drdesoto here, sounds like your steering box has been “adjusted” too tightly. To set it properly, the pitman arm needs to be disconnected and then the turnng preload over the center set with an inch-lb torque wrench. Excessive preload can damage the box internally. The adjustment procedure and the specs are in your Ford shop manual.
What drdesoto suggests is good but with the Bendix power steering the car needs to be running to do any evaluation of the steering system.
Royce, are you saying that the turning of the tire in/out by hand is normal that or that you can’t tell by doing this. It just seems strange that so much effort needs to be applied to get the tires off of straight and so much less effort after you do get them off of straight.
I am not pre - supposing anything - the system will not act properly unless the engine is running to supply PS pressure. Likely the steering box is adjusted too tight but there is no way to tell at this point.
OK, thanks. Any suggestions?
It’s conceivable that the worm/recirculating ball in the steering box was worn in the center of travel and someone tightened the grub screw to take out the play…no wait…that would have the opposite effect. Tight when the steering arm is at extremes away from the center. Belay that!
I would set the steering box as per the maintenance manual then start the engine and see.