Well to start things of, I've had nothing but bad luck lately.

First, I spent 9 hours at the hospital because I hurt my hand pretty badly, oh yeah, did I mention that I have no health insurance (I'll be getting raped with the bill later)

Then, I somehow manage to lose a $100 bill, I'm assuming it fell out of my pocket somewhere. Oh well, what could possibly be worse?

That's right, my favorite money pit! A couple of days later my truck stalls in the middle of 4 way stop sign intersection as I was making a left turn. Lucky for me there were 2 guys in a Blazer nice enough to push my truck to the side of the road (my hand was/is hurt so I couldn't do it)

To make things a bit shorter now, I got the truck towed to a shop that specializes in Toyota/Lexus (for about 75% of the dealership price) and gave them a somewhat long list of what I want done:

Get it to run of course! And see what's wrong with my power steering because it's making noise, fix my A/C, and a couple of other minor things.

All of this is fine (money wise) but they told me that my "Power steering box" is leaking really bad, and causing air to get into my power steering fluid, therefore causing my power steering pump to be noisy (sounds like a new Ford actually)

Here's the bitch part. A new power steering box (from Toyota) costs $2,500!! They said they would try to find one from a junk yard, but don't know for how much yet.

Any of you guys ever had this problem (with the power steering) to tell me anything about it? I'm not a mechanic, but I do trust the shop where my truck is at right now.

Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

 

Juggalo,

I'm sorry to hear about your hand and the $100 that you lost. I wish I could give you some good news on the power steering box, but I'll share my experience...

I have a small leak coming from above the pitman arm that I had a trusted mechanic take a look at just a couple weeks ago. He traced it to the ps box and said that it'd be $2300 to replace it (close to the same cost as was quoted by your dealership). Since it was such a small leak, he recommended not getting it fixed unless it started to leak significantly.

It sounds like your issue may be worse. Do you see anything leaking on the ground, and have you checked your ps fluid to see if it is low?

Matt

 

Sorry to hear about your problem. Hope things are getting better was we speak.

There is no way that I am going to pay $2500 for the gear box. Depending on where you live but if you are interested, I can call around and ask for a quote on a used one...it's available everywhere.

Good luck,

Nam

 

Are all IFS boxes the same? Try:
http://www.marlincrawler.com/steering.html

 

try www.car-part.com

 

I got my power steering replaced not to long ago, I can't remember the exact cost, but I wanna say about 400. I can see how it'd be 2500. Of course the just replaced my pump, maybe the box is more expensive, still sounds like a rip to me.

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

Flamedx4: Thank you for the link, it looks like they only carry the box for 79-85 Pickup's.

Depending on how much the shop tells me they want for a used power steering box (assuming they find one at least) I might just tell them to do everything else but fix the power steering for now.

Matt: I haven't seen anything leaking on the ground from my truck, and my power steering fluid level hasn't fell one drop since I bought the truck 1 year ago.

Maybe I'll just have to put up with my power steering sounding like it's made by Ford until I find one cheaper, or just decide to blow $2500 on something that won't make the truck any better... Damn, for that much I could get new wheels w/35's

Thanks once again guys

 

I show it as around $260 or so from a variety of places. Here's an example of one; Click Here!

 

rip out the power steering .. box, pump, belts .. all of it. ya don't need it

 

The FJ-62 box is $2500 as well. I got a rebuilt one for $325 and I had to send them my old one as a core.

Look for a rebuilt one, you don't need a new one.

 

the one on my truck came from the junk yard. i think i paid 100 bucks for it. haven't had a problem with it at all. I have heard of them going as low as 70. I wouldn't sweat it much dude...

 

I recently had my power steering system rebuilt at Toyota and they quoted me $2700 for the gear box. My mouth dropped as I'm sure yours did. Instead of taking them up on the offer of a lifetime (NOT), I got a used one off of a 93 for $125. Has worked fine, no problems. Good luck.

 

I did the same thing. Got a remanned one from the local machine shop, even had the dealership order it for me. Part was like $460 plus labor charges. Way better than the 2500 they quoted me.

 

A couple of years ago I had a bad leak on my steering box, I removed it and replaced the input shaft oil seal myself, had a seal made with 2 or 3 sealing lips (can't remember any more), as well as the inner teflon seals, wasn't an easy job, but it lasted until last week, so there's a nice job waiting for me! The whole lot cost me around 30$.

 

Thanks a lot man, that was exactly what I needed

And thank you to everyone else that responded, my wallet will feel a lot thicker thanks to you guys!