Ahh, first post.

Greetings from Denver,in the heart of the snowstorm

Let me say that I'm not (yet) an offroader but I am familiar with pirate4x4 through the infamous Charlie "the rear-end gears" thread.

I recently got my first truck a 1993 F350 quadcab w/460. Straight Ford Axles, front and back with a 5spd. Use it to haul all sorts of junk that I dont want to keep in the car.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n82/ms244/PICT0063.jpg

Today, while driving from work (which was canceled :D) I got stuck in my friends lot in about a foot of snow.

After some work we managed to not only get the truck out but take out a section of his fence, ding my front quarter panel and pull out some power steering line from my axle.

This happened after the strap slipped and the hook grabbed the first available thing. The line didn't shear and we managed to get this mule unstuck while pulling on this line.

So what did I break, whats it called and how do I unbreak it?

Its a power steering line which ran across the axle. Its pulled out all the way to the bumper. There is a point where it kinked, I'm going to go outside and try to unkink it and make it straighter and less restrictive later on.
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n82/ms244/damage4.jpg

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n82/ms244/PICT0061.jpg

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n82/ms244/PICT0059.jpg






Thanks in advance! :)

It's the return line, on fords they ran it up around the frame or bumper in a big loop to cool it down. It's not important, just cut and redo it without the loop. You can use steel line, or fuel injection rubber hose will work fine too.

x2.... it is the power steering cooler.. there shouldn't be too much pressure on it, but I'd goto the junkyard and get a replacement (or bend your own), pretty much any 80-96 truck has the same one..

Thanks for the replys!

Can I use copper line or so I need steel lines?

I have some swagelock type compression fittings I can use.

Better yet, cut that whole loop out of there and splice a real cooler in its place. You can get a transmission cooler from the auto parts store for cheap. A kit will come with the hose and everything you'll need to splice it in.

Thanks for the replys!

Can I use copper line or so I need steel lines?

I have some swagelock type compression fittings I can use.

Copper would be fine for the pressure, but once it got struck by anything its likely to crush. Steel would be a better choice. The cooler is not a bad idea either if you will be doing a lot of hard steering.

Thanks for the replys.

I cut off the offending section and stuck some fuel injector hose for the time being.

I seem to recall I had a stainless coil with swagelock ends on it, I'm going to try to find it and stick on this weekend. I think the steering felt a lot better with the more restrictive return line but I could hear the pump starting to whine.

Its too cold and wet to really do anything outside right now.

Also, I wanted to use this smiley :mr-t:

What is all over your truck??? It kinda looks like that evil rust from hell they get bak der in minnesoda but yours looks thicker.....and white.:lmao:

ha ha thats called snow Mr. California