When I bought a 1992 7.3 4x4 with a turbo that leaked from every pore I knew it was going to be an ongoing hassle, and this last week I ended up diving into the steering system. I was having problems with nearly every part of it, and I'm still not done. Right now I'm rebuilding the steering column.
The column in this vehicle is a goofy-looking cast piece that is actually very light in weight. Since it's a tilt wheel there's all kinds of fun locking mechanisms and whatnot. All the grease in the system is showing some kind of failure; when I got the wheel off (it came off easily with a cheap puller I've had for some time) I was looking at green crystalline growths in the horn and radio contacts. The white grease in the lock set is pasty and dry, and the brown grease in everything else is dry and pasty. Since I don't have a good set of torx drivers (I did...) I had to put the crescent wrench on the handle of a cheap one (not having any with flats on the shank) and grab several bolts with a set of battery pliers at the same time.
I managed to find the steering column rebuild kit based on a post at TheDieselStop forums
I started this little journey by replacing the steering box with a lifetime remanufactured replacement sourced from O'Reilly's. The cheapest I found a box on eBay was $120, and the same box with a lifetime warranty all over the nation was $160 locally and in stock. I already had the pitman arm puller and flare nut wrenches, so this job was relatively simple after considerable pressure-washing. I went so far as to disassemble the gear to discover that the internals felt sloppier than I was comfortable with in terms of a rebuild.
Having replaced the gear I discovered that it was not the only source of leaks, and that my pump was spewing pretty well too. A rebuild kit was also acquired from O'Reilly's, for about seventeen bucks. In hindsight, it was not worth the time it took to perform the rebuild. There is one tricky spot when reinstalling the slippers and springs into the rotor, and the remaining assembly into the cam; luckily I had two pumps to work with and so the loss of springs before I got a zip tie good and snug around the rotor to hold the slippers before installation was not crippling. I would not do this job again without a better pulley puller; I probably could not have done it at all without having just purchased a U-Joint service clamp, or without having a vise to hold the clamp. I "saved" twenty bucks. I guess I get peace of mind, but I'd rather have the day back, though the trip through a Ford C-II P/S pump was fairly interesting. The hydraulic system is, however, functioning properly and leak-free now.
In theory I ought to see this column repair kit early next week, and it should be a fairly simple matter to get it all back together if I can improvise a spring compressor for the column tilt. I called this morning and asked them to send it FedEx since I've had so many problems with UPS. The kit has a couple of bearings that presumably get pressed in to the upper column housing, which I will most likely be able to do with the vise or the U-Joint kit. In the process of assembling and disassembling the various bits described above I've used sockets, bolts, and washers from my collection, and the column rebuild instructions include specifications for a section of 3/4" PVC pipe (which I have available in abundance) as an installation tool...