Replaced power steering pump, still have problems - rack and pinion?

[Steelwheel]

A while back as I was driving, I heard some sort of clunk, and the steering wheel locked and would not turn left. It then unlocked after a few seconds. Ever since then, it has been very hard to turn to the left (and right, at slow speeds and on sharp turns, but much easier than turning left). This happened a few days after I replaced both front end struts and inner tie rod ends, and got an alignment - they were cheap quick struts (entire assembly), but seem to be of fairly good quality.

Initially after some consultation I thought it was the power steering pump, so I replaced that. It became easier to turn right, but still very hard to turn left. I took the front end off the ground and turned the wheel all the way left and right, no problem or resistance. I am nearly certain it is not the pump.

At this point, I am fairly certain it is either the steering gear or some part of the rack and pinion. I am planning on getting the assembly replaced. The fastest and cheapest way is apparently to just buy the entire steering gear/r&p asssembly. Would bad strut mounts ever cause an issue like this? Any other possibilities besides the steering linkage?

I thought I would post here to see if anyone had any other ideas or similar experiences.

Thanks!

[Crvett69]

usually when its harder to turn one direction that the other its the steering rack

[Steelwheel]

Originally Posted by Crvett69

usually when its harder to turn one direction that the other its the steering rack

Yeah I'm fairly sure that's it. Also explains how it locked up. I'm thinking fixing up the front end caused more stress on the rack and it finally gave out.

Edit: It was the rack and pinion. Steering was very hard to turn one way, sometimes easy to turn the other, sometimes not. So make sure you actually have a bad power steering pump before you replace it.