[jasonmrenda]

sorry for moronic question but here goes: had aamco install a new power steering assist cylinder on my 64 and i literally could not steer the car. so they put my old one back in which worked for a day till i noticed i had NO fluid in the pump. so i added some ATF and drove it 2 miles. came back fluid was gone. turned car on and added fluid and it all went straight to the ground so obv something is leaking/unhooked. i can sort that but here's what's odd to me.

when i got under the car to take a look, i saw that the power assist ram is held in in a VERY odd way. ill try and describe as best i can as i cant get pics right now.

the power assist ram's piston is sticking through the hole on the frame tab with no bushing or anything so it floats in the hole. i can grab a hold of the piston and push/pull it out/in with 2 fingers. additionally there is a metal washer and rubber washer on each side of the frame tab (like ones from a hardware store) - but the entire piston assembly including the washers moves with ease. the only thing stopping the piston from going completely to one side or the other is the fact that the washers on either side move with the piston and eventually bump into the frame tab preventing any more lateral movement. is this how this thing is supposed to work?

i attached a few pics - the first one is how i believe its supposed to look. the second pic is just showing that the entire piston slides back and forth - which seems wrong. the last one is a pic of what i "have" - essentially the white circles are the washers i was talking about. they too slide back and forth with the piston.

 

[63ford406]

First picture looks correct. The others are missing the washers and rubber bushings. That end of the cylinder mounts like a shock with the rubber bushings and large washers but it also has a metal sleeve in the middle to center the rubber bushings.

 

[ShotRod64]

Check your hoses if it's going straight out on the ground it sounds like a hose is either totally missing or has a really big leak! So why is it you couldn't drive it at all with the new one? Too loose, too tight... Of course seeing the way this is mounted could be an issue. Now for the idiot response, how could they NOT get that mounted correctly when they had the old one to go by when they removed it?

 

[gasman826]

Quit driving it.
Find you reciept.
Call a rollback.
Have it delivered to AMMCO.

 

[jasonmrenda]

thanks all. as for aamco well lets just say i wont be going back there. i did "only" pay for what was estimated but i just feel worse about the car now. the trans shifts up and down but not at points that i think they should be - and those points seem to change depending on how heavy a foot i have. that could be the car - i honestly dont know.

they also called to tell me the radiator was bad - and it prob was - but it wasnt leaking when i brought it in. they sourced one on ebay that i paid for - they didnt make any money on that - and they installed it for free including creating all new hard lines etc.

i asked then to swap the power assist thing and i literally coudnt steer the car as it was wayy too tight. of course i assumed it was hooked up right and had fluid - which in retrospect was my mistake. i assumed when the car drove poorly that the it was due to a faulty new power assist valave when in fact it could have been their incompetence. i had them replace it with the old one as i knew the car drove fine before. whatever thy did they installed it comletely wrong. so i ordered up the proper mounting kit and will be doing it myself this weekend. if there is still an issue i will go back to manual steering and sae the weight, cash and leaking headaches. no idea how they didnt tighten a hose!