Since I replaced the steering shafts, I really noticed how much slack is in the box. Where in order to adjest direction you have to move the wheel a few degrees to engage it the other direction. A dead spot in the middle.
Knowing that this is a high mileage system that had original fluid when I bought it with 157k I wanted to toy with thickening the ATF.
Right now Ive been using Schaffers #204SAT Transmission fluid and a few days ago I bought some #9001 5W50 racing oil to change the fluid in a lawn tractor transmission. I had most of a quart left over. I thought I might suck some out of the res and throw in a few ounces of the 5W50.
I used widman's calculators and came up with I would need to replace 20% of the system capacity, which was 5 ounces, to get about 9cst.
Initial results are good. It did tighten up the steering, and it seems to have stopped that groaning/whining that Ford pumps are known for when you are steering under high load. It still makes that supercharger whine just running down the road, but not the super loud 'Im a Ford and Im turning right now' noise.
Knowing that this is a high mileage system that had original fluid when I bought it with 157k I wanted to toy with thickening the ATF.
Right now Ive been using Schaffers #204SAT Transmission fluid and a few days ago I bought some #9001 5W50 racing oil to change the fluid in a lawn tractor transmission. I had most of a quart left over. I thought I might suck some out of the res and throw in a few ounces of the 5W50.
I used widman's calculators and came up with I would need to replace 20% of the system capacity, which was 5 ounces, to get about 9cst.
Initial results are good. It did tighten up the steering, and it seems to have stopped that groaning/whining that Ford pumps are known for when you are steering under high load. It still makes that supercharger whine just running down the road, but not the super loud 'Im a Ford and Im turning right now' noise.