Steering lockup HELP! Borgeson Steering Shaft rag joint

[justin93]

Hey everybody i've been having the worst luck, my steering locked up entirely and the power steering pump failed about 3 months ago, i then replaced the power steering pump and presto - working just as normal again.

NOW - 3 months forward now i JUST had my truck painted at an AUTO BODY PAINT SHOP and it was there for 8 days 9 days because i had to have it towed: Here's the situation
Dropped it off to get painted working mechanically superb and i had just fixed the steering issue 2 months ago which the problem was i couldn't turn it without it giving extreme resistance.

So, They are a BODY SHOP and after he finished the paint, i spoke to him over the phone he said its all done ready to go - He disclosed that he replaced the RAG JOINT on my already aftermarket BORGESON STEERING SHAFT ( this is the u-joint to rag joint model) let me repeat as he did himself, he told me 'WE REPLACED YOUR RAG JOINT AS IT LOOK LIKE IT WAS WEARING OUT, WE JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE ONE IN THE SHOP'
Then after continuing the conversation as i was LIVID that i just payed you for a service that only required the exterior to be touch nor do you have a business liscense to make repairs or mechanically work ( this i didn't tell him ) I continued the conversation and ended up driving down to the shop.
He then told me after i soon found out that my steering wheel wasn't even budging, "Im not responsible for your vehicle, If your vehicle breaks down its still your vehicle. I am not a mechanic nor do i have any employees that are mechanics there is nothing i can do for you"



Of course the paint looked better than it did before, however i COULDNT MOVE MY STEERING WHEEL
I was FURIOUS and questioned why he even replaced my rag joint and more importantly without my consent, without my knowing, without a form of contract stating that he was going to touch/make 'repairs' to my vehicle. He NEVER called me to tell me that i needed to replace my rag joint and never spoke to me of ANY issue with the steering as it came in PRISTINE mechanical operating condition..He then told me over the phone ' Well maybe i shouldn't of gone out of my way to try to help you and replace your rag joint that was torn up' BULL !!!!
IF HE DECIDED TO NOT TAKE THE EXTRAFUC**** CURRICULAR ACTIVITY PRACTICE ON MY DAMN TRUCK THIS WOULDN'T OF HAPPENED!

I had my truck towed the next day to my house and i replaced the power steering pump (again as i had a lifetime warranty) and i start the truck on hoping that would fix the VERY similar problem i had prior to taking it in.. however it was turning but it would feel as if the pump would allow my wheel to move a 1/4 of the way then it would have a INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF RESISTANCE and makes very uneasing noises.

I was unable to inspect what was making the noise as it was already late and dark out when i finished replacing the power steering.

So i did the next step and contacted borgeson universal telling them i have a defected shaft as i was still in the 1 year warranty range..

I just placed the order today to return for a DOUBLE U JOINT STYLE STEERING SHAFT..
I spoke to Gill with Borgeson Universal and he disclosed that the rag joint is more of an older style common in pre-2000 cars but most factory produced new cars use a U joint to U joint so i opted to exchange my 1 u joint to 1 rag joint for the double U joint steering shaft.. Same price - BUT are these better Steering shafts? more importantly is this even a good idea? or is the rag joint a fine steering shaft and im just experienced issues? if anyone can chime in and help me out on what they've experienced or say that would be give me a better perspective!

I am doing this in hopes that it will cure my issue as i have all brand new MOOG front suspension from the lower ball joints to the idler arm connected to the gear box and doubt thats the issue.. haven't looked at my steering gear box but i've heard the more you adjust it the more it puts a stress on it requiring a diminished longetivity

I am about to

If anyone else has had any similar problems with there borgeson steering shaft or just in general for that matter i would love to hear your experience and any suggestions/advice

Before i take my truck back to the shop i want to know exactly what was wrong, get an invoice of how much it will cost installed then the part itself and take him to small claims court as this is /

I don't know where to look at and how to diagnose what i should do next.. Any information would be widely appreciated im kind of in a rut so your replies will put me at more ease, hope to hear from you folks soon Thanks

 

[94Sierra4x4]

You shouldn't have left the shop. Tell him to put the other joint back in.
He wasn't supposed to do it.

Did you drive the truck to the shop? If you did then he knows this thing was in working order..
Take him to small claims if need be, or at least let him know the idea to is in your head. That should be light a fire under his ass right there..

 

[phule]

So hes not able to do repairs and is not laible for anything after he dis somwthing he wasnt suppose to do..... Bunch of bull I would have left the truxk and told him to fix it he did a unwarranted repair with out the owners permission he fuxked up and needs to be solely responasble have a repair bill quoted out brinf it to him and say you can pay for this now or we can fo ro court. Sorry for the run on I work in the auto repair dield and if I did that I would be cut up once aise and down the other

Adam

 

[great white]

So, first question:

What year is the truck?

Edit: I looked at a couple other threads and it appears you have a 93, which jives with yur screen name I guess.

The rag joint is Oem on your truck. It allows for slight misalignments between the shaft and box and it also reduces NVH.

It's a fine system until it gets old. Then there's deflection in the rubber and you get a sloppy feel.

There's nothing wrong with replacing it with a lower ujoint. Not my preference, but nothing wrong with it.

So is your shaft binding or is your box binding?

Shaft binding would be obvious if you have someone turn the wheel.

It is possible the body guy might have messed with the preload screw on the worm gear also. This can give you a poor on centre feel or if it's cranked right down it can bind. If it's in a bind condition you may be moving the power steering valve assembly it's amount of deflection plus whatever backlash is left and then binding. Problem is: I doubt buddy will admit anything more to you if he did bugger the box. People mess with these but they shouldn't. There's a very specific way to set the preload that mostly can't be done at home.

To be clear here: is your steering binding or locking up?

Those are two didn't scenarios. Binding is very hard to turn, locking up is it won't turn.

In my experience, it's not unusual for body shop guys to replace some suspension items as such when fixing unibodies or other types of damage that involves the suspension. They used to do it all the time at the dealership where I worked for a time. Thing was; they'd always send it over to our bays to finish it up and do the alignment so no harm no foul....but it was always limited to things that needed to be fixed on the work order. You guy is clearly outside of that approval....

 

[sewlow]

It is possible the body guy might have messed with the preload screw on the worm gear.

This was my first thought when I read this!

"Hey Joe. When you moved that truck, did the steering feel right?"
"Uhhh, Jeez, yea. Ummm, no. I guess. I dunno. Why?"
"I noticed no rag joint on the steering box when I was under there. I'll bet that if you replaced that, it'd tighten everything up"
"Oh. O.K. What's a 'rag joint?"
(Joe, thinking to himself.) Ahhh, O.K. Replace dat thingy dere. And...tighten EVERYTHING up!!! I think dat's what da boss said. Gotta find some tools. They're under that pile of sandpaper. At least dat's where dey were last week!
Dohdedohdedoh, off to work I go! Eeeeyupyupyup!

What a bunch of brain dead ****! Jeez Louise! First rule of working on someone else's vehicle.
If it ain't on the damn work order...DON"T F*CK WITH IT!!!
Doesn't matter if a vehicle is a rolling POS! (Not saying the O.P.'s is.) Fix what you were hired to do & that's it!
This is a prime example why!

Have you paid for the paint job? By Cheque? Cancel it. RFN!!! I mean like, RIGHT NOW!!! Nothing will get his attention faster! You'll be able to hear his butt pucker shut across town!
I'd get the truck to a shop, get it fixed properly, with a detailed report from the repair shop, & present it to the body shop's top Chiquita. If that doesn't get you anywhere, walk out singing, Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to court we go!
What a bunch of dumba$$es! They screw around with your truck without your O.K., mess it up, then claim that they don't have the knowledge, or even the proper biz. license to do what they did, then say that they can't or won't fix it!
If this was my truck, I'd be making that shop owner's life miserable!

 

[justin93]

*Double post

 

[great white]

First let me preface this with you may not like what I have to say here. I feel your pain, but I've been on the other side of the counter too. So I'm going to try and be honest without giving the impression of bias either way.

Lets address the body work concerns first.

Over spray on the exhaust is not that big a deal. Chrome tips will clean, underside exhaust will burn off in short order. Overspray happens, especially on a $700 start to finish paint job. That's really low $$$$ and you have to expect some overspray underneath on nearly any repaint unless it's a full body job colour change. My advice would be to just let that part go.

Broken grill. If it wasn't broken going in and it is now they need to replace it. No leeway there. The legal problem if you go to small claims is that you have accepted compensation for it already (the 20 bucks). You will have a hard time with it unless the adjudicator agrees that it was inadequate. Like I said, the problem is you accepted it which implies settlement. If he says you accepted it in settlement and you say you didn't its your word against his. Tough one to call...

Broken marker light. Same deal: not broken going in, broken coming out. Same problem with the 20 bucks. Remember that it's not what seems right to you that matters, it's what the cold hard legal fact of the matter is and how the judge will interpret it.

That same 20 bucks may work in your favour also if he denies breaking the grill and marker. if they didn't break the items, then why did he offer any compensation at all? The offer of compensation implies responsibility for the damages. Like I said, that could go either way and will depend on who the judge believes that day, the cold legal definitions and how he interprets them....

Overspray on windows. Unacceptable. Improper masking. That's part of what you paid them for. Now you're back to the contract law type stuff and this time it's one your side: they quoted you a price for the job which includes prep and paint which they did not do properly. It doesn't really matter that they might have quoted you low, it's part of the job and he looses out in this case. If it would have taken more work he should have quoted you higher. They need to fix it.

Paint on seats. Same as paint on the windows. You paid for a service that was not properly delivered and your property was damaged while win their care. Watch out if they have a "not responsible for damage while in care" clause on their work order, that will make it and uphill battle, but should be winnable because it happened because of their employees neglect and not due to theft vandalism etc which is what the not responsible clause usually covers.

Rough running. Well, this you're really not going to like but unless he states he worked on the engine a judge is probably going to look at you and say it's 20 years old and he didn't touch the engine.

That 20 year old thing is going to hang around you neck like an albatross in court. Not that you won't win, it's what the judge will access the value of a 20 year old non collector status vehicle is realistically worth in parts replacement and your reasonable compensation. it's not like an insurance claim, but it might not be new part replacement costs either. I don't like it, you don't like it, but it's probably what they will say.

Unless you can PROVE it was running perfect....and I mean PERFECT.....IMMEDIATELY prior to handing it to them and that they did something to it it's just your word against his. That comes down to what the judge thinks/believes. Total and complete toss up there. The fact that he did work to your steering gear may work in you favour if he states he did not work on the engine. It calls his credibility into question if he did unapproved work on the steering and then says he did nothing to the engine. A judge may or may not see that as "fishy"..... Toss up to which way that one goes.

Vacuum line. Sounds like it was your evap canister. Part of emissions and not really a player in this drama (drama meant lightheartedly). Stick it back on and forget about it.

Now for the really sticky stuff: the steering. The problem here is that you've had the same problem with it prior ( by your previous post) and the same failure issue. I' m beginning to think you have a problem in the box itself. The "no fluid moving" and a brand new pump installed is making me think this.

Here's my thoughts on what is possibly happening:

It's power assist steering. The power assist works by the steering shaft operating a valve assembly in the top of the box where the shaft enters just before it moves the worm gear and the rest of the steering gear. When you turn the steering wheel, it turns the shaft and then ports fluid to assist you in turning the wheel. At this point you should see fluid movement in the reservoir. If you do not and the steering is very stiff there is no power assist. If you see fluid movement and the steering is locked up solid it's possible your valve has slipped/shifted/porting wrong or otherwise failed and the power assist is working against you.

The power steering pump has more than enough pressure to prevent you from turning the wheel if it's working against you. If things are "floating around" in the box this could be an intermittent condition.

If the seals are bypassing it could do this behaviour at strange times.

This could explain why you thought it was fixed, they had a problem with it and now it's totally buggered. It would be a very odd failure, but possible.

Very important sidebar point: please do not drive the vehicle until you figure out why it is doing this. It is a very dangerous and life threatening condition, for both you and everyone else on the road.

Were they wrong to swap out your steering shaft? Absolutely. But unless you can prove the new shaft is the problem you're probably out of luck in forcing them to fix it. Or you would have to prove they buggered the box (if that's the problem).

Of he tries to toss out he was being a in guy and changing it out for free, the judge will laugh at him. That's all on the owner and none of your problem as far as compensation or cause goes. The judge will probably just think he is a stupid business man and it may even call his credibility into question as no one does a couple hundred bucks work because he's a "nice guy". It's just not reasonable for someone running a business to do that.

Buddy has already proven that he's not going to work with you, so not much help there in working something out out of court unless he has a change of heart and you accept less than he's responsible for EVERYTHING that you see wrong with your vehicle before and after.

Also keep in mind I'm only seeing this across cyberspace in what you are describing. It could be entirely possible if I were standing the looking at it it would be a different story or I'd be pointing in your engine bay and saying " we'll there's your problem".

Good luck with the whole mess.

 

[justin93]

You shouldn't have left the shop. Tell him to put the other joint back in.
He wasn't supposed to do it.

Did you drive the truck to the shop? If you did then he knows this thing was in working order..
Take him to small claims if need be, or at least let him know the idea to is in your head. That should be light a fire under his ass right there..

Yep i drove it to his business saturday morning. He (owner) even said that he moved it inside the shop to and from and parked it and Inever Once received a phone call or update AT ALL. i had to bug him all during my work week and my work hours just to see what the hell was going on with my K15, i spoke to him Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Monday in the morning.
He never disclosed anything not working properly or anything he replaced, touched before he did so.

He also claimed it would only be 2 days to finish the paint but i told him to take his time and do it right - i'm in no rush (didn't happen, overspray on every god damn accessory ARB bumper, fender wells, side windows, tailgate, rear bumper, front grille, broke my corner lense, hit my grille with the sander - my drive seat has primer on it and my exhaust is COATED in primer WTF! you have a monkey operating that DA ?! This was a 700$ single stage paint job but C'MON AM I NOT WORTH THE PREP WORK ? A-HOLE!)



He called me monday to tell me it was ready and that the rag joint was replaced, NEVER did he tell me there was ANY sign of issue or problemNOT after i parked my truck in front of his business for service. he said he moved the truck himself and he said there was problems steering it so he took a look and saw my rag joint was wearing out, as he claims. (this was a 9 month old borgeson oem rag joint part # 000936) he claimed he fixed it just to move around my truck in his shop - my power steering and everything was working when i left it there so that shouldn't of even ever been the case.

So i went down there, with a benefit of the doubt that he might of some how helped me out with something i actually needed repaired without my knowledge of it needing to be replaced/repaired, i get in the truck he has it idling (rough) when i arrive and i do my walk arounds and shut off my truck, i didn't try steering it
I pay him inside we finish the paper work get my invoice and then i show him some spots that aren't acceptable to what he claims is his work practice, so he claims he will take care of them after the paint cures after the following month.
After that i notice damage (my grille and turning light lense) he gave me 20$ to repair it but my grille is still damaged.
I hop in my truck and immediately when i tried starting it i knew there was some BIG TIME problems and my happiness quickly shaped and i became livid - yet while keeping my composure.

I told him i can't even LEAVE as my truck steering was, as greatwhite described 'Locked up" - they cranked the out of it just to get it back in the shop cuz i wanted to see how they were even moving it in there - and guess who moved it ? the body man not the OWNER who i was speaking to the whole time.
I opened my power steering fluid while it was running and saw that the fluid sat still - then his mojado body men putting there dirty ass hands all over my newly fresh paint said 'its the power steering its not taking in the fluid see'
I then showed no consent as i told them i JUST had this serviced, it was running PERFECT and has a less than 2 month old brand new power steering pump (was a remanufactured A-1 cardon from o reillys though SHH!) I told him there's no excuse nor reason for it to go out as it was just profesionally done he then claimed i need to replace it or go to his shop and have him warranty his work. immediately after one of his body men said ' you need a new truck' < This guy HA!

Thats when hit the fan, i told him that the truck was running like absolute ! i made my point firm lets just say that, i notice one of the vaccuum lines in the driver side front corner was disconnected - i don't recall the part but it has 2 ports for vaccuum lines its like a black circle canister IDK - i plugged it back in and it still continued to run like absolute. *I CAN TAKE A PICTURE AT HOME OF WHAT WAS UNPLUGGED TO GIVE THE BEST SITUATION AND CONDITION MY TRUCK WAS IN WHEN I GOT IT BACK*

As soon as i saw that i told him you were suppose to paint my truck, not go into the engine bay and work on anything, now my truck is not even CLOSE to running condition it was idling rougher then an amazonian womens ***** hair, it FAILED to start up 5 of the 6 times (in front of him) when it did start it sounded absolutely WEAK like it was starving for gas and about to die!- EVEN MY HORN ON MY ALARM BEEPS LIKE A BIT** NOW AND IT USED TO SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME WHEN STANDING NEAR IT! Can anyone explain that?!

I told him this isn't right, i need it fixed and out of your shop. he said there was nothing he can do - its my vehicle, my problem as he's not a mechanic. I stayed there for along time until he said that he would speak to a mechanic and call me immediately Tuesday.
He never called me tuesday so i called him and tell him i need my truck FIXED - i brought it in pristine operating condition freshly tuned up and now its running THE WORST it ever has in my ENTIRE OWNER SHIP!
To hear/feel/see my truck running like that honestly scared me and i was telling him this is not OK you are responsible for fixing it since you took intiative to install the rag joint leading to all these conflicts with it being in pre-accidental condition - he followed that with, 'well maybe i shouldn't of done that then. I was trying to help you out and obviously its turning around to be problem but im not a mechanic and i can't fix it for you' WHAT THE WERE YOU DOING TOUCHING MY GOD DAMN THEN! is this not self-contradicting?!

I take my truck home tuesday evening - replace the power steering pump and pulley all new fluid, put everything to factory torque specs, line wrenches for the high pressure hoses etc- i know what im doing mechanically - fire it up and it still runs like horse , idles rougher then well you remember(amazonian), and i put it in gear and dear god it felt like it was about to just die on me. I turned the wheels full lock left full lock right and it was making very unsettling sounds - it would turn the wheel 1/4 at a time and in between it would be extremely resistant and make unsettling noises and i mean very unsettling. I will try and snag some pictures of my current shaft gear box, idler arm and steering mechanism to better give you guys an understanding of its current condition.

I know this message came out longer then expected i just wanted to give the full over view of what happened.

I will respond to the rest of your replies now but summarizing all that novel up there
94 Sierra4x4

I should of left it in front of his business instead of getting it towed to my residence, i should of held him responsible even though he was stating multiple times he can't do anything.
I drove the truck to the shop and he claimed he drove it in and around his shop during the process of its body work - which means he should know it was in working order THE FIRST TIME HE TURNED THE KEYS AND MOVED IT! everything else was BS coming out his mouth saying - yeah as soon as i got in the truck and drove it the steering was showing resistance when his body men said they drove it too and it the steering wasn't working.
He FAILED to tell me this the following day i intially dropped it off as its EASILY distinguishable that its not normal for a vehicle to not be able to turn or move more so how would i even of droven my truck there?
he claimed he only drove it then his body men came and said he drove it and it was doing the same thing - HA!
I want to nail this mother fu*** and leave him multiple yelp reviews and bad word of mouth to any body asking where my truck was painted or general body shop inquiries.

Im going to go in with my phone audio record and my friend recording via video (thank goodness for technology;smart phones) when i walk in while i record via audio the conversation and i will be asking him this in a civil manner:

"What part did you remove from my vehicle?
Do you have the part you removed? I want the part you took off.
Are you a liscensed mechanic that's able to work on vehicles?
Why did you fail to contact me at the first sign of 'mechanical conflicts' with my vehicle rather than taking the responsibility and doing the work yourself?
I never was asked, told or gave my consent to do that work.
I will then show him the invoice that i printed out from a body shop and tell him since you took the responsibility to fix it, your going to continue holding that responsibility to pay for the repair services of my vehicle at my own discretion of Mechanic/auto shops. You can pay me now or i will be seeing you in small claims court."

After that im assuming should be enough info for the court house to understand that he did in fact just admit that he replaced a part and without my consent or without anything being stated on the invoice nor did he communicate to me prior when there was issue =A BIG NO-NO!

If there are any suggestions for me to follow with legal actions please send them here but im more serious about actually fixing my truck then sticking it to him while they are both equal on the priority list.

now that i've now receieved Carpal tunnel from that long reply, i hope it gives any new viewer the full jist of what happened.
Im going to shortly summarize replies to the rest of you guys - again thank you so much for the replies they were very prompt to the posting of this thread and you guys have been alot of help and im 10% less stressed out than before.
Apologize for the headaches given during this reading. i will be short and summarized with my following responses!

 

[justin93]

First let me preface this with you may not like what I have to say here. I feel your pain, but I've been on the other side of the counter too. So I'm going to try and be honest without showing bias either way.

Lets address the body work concerns first.

Over spray on the exhaust is no big deal. Especially on a $700 start to finish paint job. That's really low $$ and you have to expect some overspray underneath on nearly any repaint unless it's a full body job colour change. My advice would be to let that part go.

Broken grill. If it wasn't broken going in and it is now they need to replace it. No leeway there. The legal problem if you go to small claims is that you have accepted compensation for it already (the 20 bucks). You will have a hard time with it unless the adjudicator agrees that it was inadequate. Like I said, the problem is you accepted it which implies settlement. Hard one to call...

Broken marker light. Same deal: not broken going in, broken coming out. Same problem with the 20 bucks. Remember that it's not what seems right to you that matters, it's what the cold hard legal fact of the matter is and how the judge will interpret it.

Overspray on windows. Unacceptable. Improper masking. That's part of what you paid them for. Now you're back to the contract law type stuff and this time it's one your side: they quoted you a price for the job which includes prep and paint which they did not do properly. It doesn't really matter that they might have quoted you low, it's part of the job and he looses out in this case. If it would have taken more work he should have quoted you higher. They need to fix it.

Paint on seats. Same as paint on the windows. You paid for a service that was not properly delivered and your property was damaged while win their care. Watch out if they have a "not responsible for damage while in care" clause on their work order, that will make it and uphill battle, but should be winnable because it happened because of their employees neglect and not due to theft vandalism etc which is what the not responsible clause usually covers.

Rough running. Well, this you're really not going to like but unless he states he worked on the engine a judge is probably going to look at you and say it's 20 years old.

That 20 year old thing is going to hang around you neck like an albatross in court. Not that you won't win, it's what the judge will access the value of a 20 year old non collector status vehicle is realistically worth in parts replacement. I don't like it, you don't like it, but it's probably what they will say.

Unless you can prove it was running perfect....and I mean PERFECT.....immediately prior to handing it to them and that they did something to it it's just your word against his. That comes down to what the judge thinks. Total and complete toss up there.

Vacuum line. Sounds like it was your evap canister. Part of emissions and not really a player in this drama (drama meant lightheartedly). Stick it back on and forget about it.

Now for the really sticky stuff: the steering. The problem here is that you've had the same problem with it prior ( by your previous post) and the same failure issue. I' m beginning to think you have a problem in the box itself. The "no fluid moving" and a brand new pump installed is making me think this.

Here's my thoughts on what is possibly happening:

It's power steering. The power steering works by the steering shaft operating a valve assembly in the top of the box where the shaft enters. When you turn the steering wheel, it turns the shaft and then ports fluid to assist you in turning the wheel. At this point you should see fluid movement in the reservoir. If you do not and the steering is very stiff there is no power assist. If you see fluid movement and the steering is locked up solid it's possible your valve h slipped/porting wrong and the power assist is working against you.

The power steering pump has more than enough pressure to prevent you from turning the wheel. If things are "floating around" in the box this could be an intermittent condition.

If the seals are bypassing it could do this behaviour at strange times.

This could explain why you thought it was fixed, they had a problem with it and now it's totally buggered. It would be a very odd failure, ,but possible.

We're they wrong to swap out your steering shaft. Absolutely. But unless you can prove the new shaft is the problem you're probably out of luck in forcing them to fix it. Or you would have to prove they buggered the box (if that's the problem).

Buddy has already proven that he's not going to work with you, so not much help there.

Also keep in mind I'm only seeing this across cyberspace in what you are describing. It could be entirely possible if I were standing the looking at it it would be a different story or I'd be pointing in your engine bay and saying " we'll there's you problem".

Good luck with the whole mess.

I'll be taking pictures tonight of the mess. Taking it to get quotes and inspected by a family relative mechanic. Will be then taking that to him if it correalted with the rag joint he replaced, he never replaced the whole shaft and it was already and aftermarket borgeson shaft not stock gm.

Acetone and steel wool exhaust tips.

Isopryl plastics and clean them up.

Not worried about overspray as im confident i can get it all out its just still.. c'mon man fair price but not how he claimed it to be ill take pictures of how it turned out in detail and also add those.

I have a receipt for the trans and engine that they were rebuilt to factory specs from the crank up they have 30k miles on them both.
I have videos of the truck running a month prior after installing the new pump and cooling system profesionally as it was on craigslist for sale temporarily and i had the videos updated and linked.

nothing should be taken from this relative to the paint im fine with the mediocre job completed no arguements at all i got what i paid for but i also received mechanical property damage to my truck and it is simply not acceptable. I mean i told him i was going to sell it after i paint it and now i can't even move it out from the position the tow truck left it in without it soundling like somethings going to pop from the steering components.

We were testing the fluid in the pump that i already replaced, that one wasn't flowing.
The one i replaced (on tuesday) WAS flowing fluid.

after the new pump was replaced i turned it and my experience was that it would actually budge a good 1/4 turn whole turn being full lock in one direction.
it would only allow me to turn it at 1/4 at a time and show EXTREME resistance to get it to the next 1/4 and my wheels were turning drastically between each 1/4 turn.

How would i be able to correctly diagnose the steering box if that may or may not be the potential problem ?..

ill do my absolute best to give everyone an understanding of its prior accidental condition then after.
I will have pictures of later in the evening and im just about to get off work right now and will be following up with more replies when i get home.

Im getting a ton of support on this forum and im a newbie as you can see but have been using thirdgen.org for years, never have i gotten this much community help thanking everyone goes unsaid but all inputs are widely appreciate!

 

[great white]

Well, I've said my bit on who's responsible for what and when and what might happen so lets move on to figuring out what is going on with your truck.

To see if it's the hydraulics or the mechanical part of the box I'd remove the power steering belt and see if it changes anything.

If it's just hard to turn but smooth otherwise, it's a hydraulic problem and you're looking at the pump or the power assist part of the box. I'd roll the truck a bit while attempting to turn the steering wheel just so you're not fighting the tires grip or the pavement. Basically, manual steering but a bit stiffer.

If the binding is still there or it locks up with no hydraulics, your problem is likely in the worm gear assembly or you should be able to see it if the shaft is binding in the rag joint or otherwise.

That will at least narrow it down a bit for starters...