98 Mercury Mountaineer Power Steering

[EFalosk]

Alright, I have a 1998 Mercury Mountaineer AWD. Whats happining is I have "no" power steering only to the right. There is a spot when im turning my wheel "when parked in gravel" that my tires will shake along with my steering wheel, but only in a certian spot while turning. Also there is a noise that I think might me involved with this problem in the front end that has nothing to do with how fast I am going but on bumpy terrain.

I'm not sure exactly what the issue is, all i can think of is rack and pinion/cv joints/tie rods. I looked online for this type of problem and I read that it could also be something to do with the steering colum being out of line and putting drag on a CV joint or something.

I'm just trying to avoid taking it into a shop.

p.s.
my steering wheel also creeks.

thanks for any help

-Eric

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum!

Are you sure the steering wheel is what's creaking rather than the ball joints? Ball joints on these vehicles are pretty common to fail, and in addition to causing noise, may cause stiff steering as well. I wouldn't expect them to effect only one direction of steering, but I suppose it's possible.

-Rod

[EFalosk]

Will ball joints cause all these problems?

[shorod]

I'm having a hard time convincing me of that, but I also haven't come up with any other ideas either. Sorry.

-Rod