I just finished replacing the steering gear on a 2001 E350 with 233,000 miles. This van has plenty of rust and the components are bound together by that rust. This was probably one of the nastier conditions of a steering gear due to rust. I thought I'd share the experience for the benefit of those who need to replace this component. With this information you shouldn't have much trouble. Disconnect the battery for this procedure.
The steering gear is the hunk of metal at the bottom end of the shaft from the steering wheel. It is mounted with three bolts that go through the left frame rail. You can easily see them inboard of the front part of the left front tire. The mounting bolts are 7/16 diameter, about 4.5 inches long, and 14 threads per inch. Use a 5/8 socket for removal and installation. There are two hydraulic lines on the top of the steering gear. One comes from the power steering pump and the other goes to the cooler, according to the manual. The input of the steering gear is the steering shaft from the steering wheel, and the output is the pitman arm which goes to the steering linkage.
The only thing I removed for access was a short fat 90 degree air duct right above the oil dipstick handle. Two worm clamps and it's off. Removing anything else is a waste of time and won't give you any more access.
For installation, get everything (and I mean everything) attached loose before you tighten anything unless you want to go backwards, taking things apart that you just assembled. Ask me how I know.
I had issues with each part of this job so I'll describe each one individually. I soaked everything with WD40 and let it sit for a day. I knew I'd have trouble once I saw the amount of rust I'd be dealing with.
When I was loosening the mount bolts, the head snapped off one of them. Luckily it was the bottom bolt, the most accessible. Once I had the other two bolts out, I moved the steering gear away from the frame enough to get a cut off wheel on the remaining part of the bolt that was still stuck in the steering gear and frame, and I cut it off between the frame and the steering gear. I had to buy a new bolt for installation.
The steering shaft has a clamp at the bottom end that wraps around the steering gear input shaft and closes with a pinch bolt. Getting the bolt out was not difficult. Don't confuse this with the universal that sits just above this pinch bolt. I wanted to stabilize the steering wheel so I used a Harbor Freight cargo strap to secure the steering wheel by attaching the strap hooks to the front door latches in the door jambs and wrapping the strap around the bottom of the steering wheel a few times. This worked very well. Once I had the pinch bolt out I repositioned the steering wheel about 90 degrees so that the split in the steering shaft was facing up. I duct taped an old floor jack handle as an extension to a large chisel so that I could hit it with a hammer. It was a little wobbly but it worked. I put the chisel in the split on the steering shaft. A few good hits and the steering shaft was loose from the steering gear.
Removing the two hydraulic lines wasn't too bad, once I figured out that they both need a 5/8 wrench. Use a flare nut wrench when you can, but I mostly used an open end wrench.
When installing the hydraulic lines, don't have the three mount bolts in the steering gear. Put one in half way so that you can wiggle the steering gear to align the hydraulic lines. I spent too much time trying to get the lines attached before I took two of the mount bolts out and loosened the remaining bolt to let things move a bit. Then the hydraulic lines lined up relatively quickly. I was paranoid about cross threading these lines, but I figured that once the lines were fully seated in the steering gear my chances of cross threading were very small. The Haynes manual tells you to tighten the steering gear mounting bolts before you install the hydraulic lines. Do not do this. The steering gear must have some wiggle to get the hydraulic lines connected. At least mine did. Cross thread these hydraulic lines and you're screwed. Get everything connected loose before you tighten anything.
I removed the steering gear and pitman arm together, then put the steering gear in my bench vise to remove the pitman arm. The nut loosened OK, so I put my new pitman arm puller in place and when I estimated that I passed 200 foot pounds of torque on the pitman arm puller with nothing moving I decided not to risk personal injury and I left the pitman arm in place on the steering gear and bought a new pitman arm.
I installed the pitman arm before the steering gear was installed which I think was a good move but I didn't tighten it until after everything was attached. I'm not sure that the pitman arm would clear the cutout in the frame once the steering gear was tightened in place but I didn't need to worry about that because the pitman arm was already in place.
Make sure that the steering wheel and the steering gear are centered before mating them (this is when you first put the steering gear in place and engage it with the steering shaft). The cargo strap held the steering wheel for this step. It was four complete turns of travel on the input shaft of the steering gear from stop to stop so I centered it by turning it two full turns from one stop. I put some antiseize compound on the input shaft just to make is easier to slide into the steering shaft and it went OK.
I let as much fluid leak out as wanted to during this process, in fact I encouraged it, and I had to add about two quarts when I finished.
I could probably knock this job out in about four hours but it took me a bit longer because I was learning as I went so use that as a guide for the time you need to allocate.
If anyone has any questions or comments, fire away.