What are the symptoms of a damaged truck steering gear?

[McMichael]

Here are the symptoms of a damaged truck steering gear (also known as a steering box): 1. Steering gear oil leakage. 2. Stiff steering wheel. 3. Steering wheel not returning to center. 4. Abnormal noises when turning the steering wheel. 5. Steering wheel feels loose or floats. 6. Heavy steering wheel. Here are the working principles of different types of steering gears: 1. Rack and pinion steering gear. This is the most common type of steering gear. Its basic structure consists of a pair of meshing pinion and rack. When the steering shaft drives the pinion to rotate, the rack moves linearly. The rack directly drives the tie rod to steer the wheels. 2. Recirculating ball steering gear. When the steering screw rotates, the force is transmitted to the nut through steel balls, causing the nut to move along the axis. The nut then meshes with a sector gear, converting linear motion back into rotational motion to swing the pitman arm, which in turn moves the drag link and tie rod linearly. 3. Worm and sector steering gear. In this type, the worm is the driving component, and the driven component is a peg mounted on the end of the pitman arm shaft. When the worm rotates, the meshing peg moves along an arc around the pitman arm shaft axis, driving the pitman arm to rotate, which then steers the wheels through the steering linkage. 4. Hydraulic integral power steering gear. When steering, the driver turns the steering wheel, driving the steering shaft and gear. Ground steering resistance is transmitted to the piston rod with rack teeth through the tie rod, creating higher pipeline resistance than the throttle resistance of the steering control valve. This causes the vane pump output pressure to rise sharply. High-pressure fluid enters one side of the power cylinder piston through the control valve, pushing the piston and thus the rack to provide power assistance.

[EliasDella]

I've been driving trucks for almost twenty years, and there are quite a few symptoms when the steering gear fails: the most obvious one is that turning the steering wheel becomes extremely difficult, like slipping in mud, especially when making low-speed turns. You might also hear creaking or squeaking noises, the steering wheel may shake, feel loose, and the free play increases. The vehicle might even pull to one side on its own, making it hard to stay straight. Last time my old truck had this issue, I nearly got into trouble on the highway—luckily, I spotted it in time and got it fixed. My advice is not to delay; get it checked as soon as you notice anything unusual. Otherwise, waiting until it's completely broken will cost more and delay your work.