In the 10 years I've been servicing/working on my own vehicles, I've never had to deal with a power steering issue.

A few weeks ago, my steering wheel on the kick got a LOT harder to turn...  No whining, so fluid wasn't low (yes, I checked).  I don't really know what to look at to find the problem though (feel like an idiot.. :-/ )

It's a 94 dr with a 3" body lift, coil spacers, strut spacers, and crown vic shocks out back with 31x10.50s on 15x8 wagon wheels.

Anybody have any input as to what I should be looking for?  Sorry for the noob question... lol

Thanks in advance,
Bryan

This might seem a bit obvious but has the belt come loose or fallen off?

Is it hard to turn all the way around or does there seem to be a tight "spot"?  The reason I ask is that the steering shaft U-joints sometimes seize up and cause a tight spot when turning.

I had the original manual box go bad, got hard to turn, took it apart to
see what was going on and little ground up bits of gears and stuff came
out    lucky I didn't have a problem on the road with it.

Wild

Belt's still there, but I did notice it was SUPER old, and stained brown from the mud.  I guess it could be dry-rotted and slipping... I dunno.  Maybe I'll change that first and see what it does.

It's tight from lock to lock, not just certain spots...

Lift the wheels off the ground and see if it still feels tight, this
should check for binding in the steering system

Wild

How so?  If something's binding it will still be tight in the air?  Sorry, my mind's not working well today, it's been one of those days... lol

How so?  If something's binding it will still be tight in the air?  Sorry, my mind's not working well today, it's been one of those days... lol

Ya, that's what I said, this will test the linkages without the tires making it hard to turn cause they are on the ground

Yeah, sorry, I was super busy yesterday, brain wasn't fully functioning either after the night before.. lol

Box or pump would be my guess.

Yeah, that's what i'm afraid of... How hard are they to change? I have no experience with a "box"... I only know of a belt driven pump... lol

Yeah, that's what i'm afraid of... How hard are they to change? I have no experience with a "box"... I only know of a belt driven pump... lol

Steering box is what I was referring to.
Neither are hard to change out.....
for the box, take the draglink off the pitman arm, take the steering shaft off the box, take the 3 bolts out that hold it to the frame, remove box.
for the pump, loosen belt, remove high pressure and return line, remove 3 bolts that hold the pump bracket to the engine block, remove pump.  You may have to take the AC compressor off the bracket, to have enough room to get the pump out.
For either one, it shouldn't take much more than a hour to swap out.

A note on the pump.....if you buy a used pump (and it comes with the bracket)....either make sure the pump/bracket came from an engine that is the same as yours (8V or 16V), or use your bracket on the new pump......since 8V and 16V brackets are different (the offset is different and the belt won't line up, if you use the wrong bracket).  But the pumps are the same, so either pump will work on either bracket.

Thanks so much for the play by play. It help if I end up needing one or the other. What exactly is "the box"? I know, dumb question, but I've only ever heard that term on Zukiworld...

That would be the thing the steering shaft attaches to

LOL ok... I mean, what does it do? Are there gears in it? Fluid? Magic pixie dust?