Ok, I have read every thread I can find on power steering coolers and most seem to be geared towards people wondering if they have one or not. From what I can tell 04-08 trucks had two styles, the finned and the simple tube. This seems to be a common one:



However, I have the other style with the simple tube that does a back and forth down below the radiator area:



I routinely take my truck out into Nevada and the weather is usually in the 90's normally and many times gets up over 100 degrees. With the larger tires obviously the strain on the power steering is going to be increased. On all my older trucks I run transmission, oil, and power steering coolers.

I am thinking of adding one to my newer truck as well. My idea is to re-route the rubber line in the picture below up to a cooler that I would mount by the transmission cooler. I would leave the existing hard line intact and just run the return line back to the stock cooler. I would simply insert an additional cooler in between the stock cooling line and the return. Thoughts?

 

Anybody?

 

should work great. just make sure its got a good place to mount. i would think you could mount one right there, but if you want it higher it will probably work

 

I will probably mount it up by the transmission cooler. I'll have to post a DIY article on it when I do it. I figure it can't hurt, only help with the cooling.

 

I just don't understand why you think it's necessary. Most vehicles aren't known for having PS issues, and the F150's sure aren't known for it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. My .02, of course.

 

I regularly wheel in a very hot environment. And, Ford didn't design my truck with 35" tires in mind. Combine 100 degree heat with larger tires and you can overheat power steering fluid. I've seen it happen time and time again while out on the trail when a stock power steering system is trying to push big tires in hot conditions. Until I added a P/S cooler on my 90 Bronco, I used to overheat the fluid regularly with 35" tires while wheeling. Better to take preventive measures up front than wish I had later.

 

Understandable. Wasn't aware of the environment you were operating in.

 

I'm not one of those folks who thinks they are smarter than the Ford engineers by any means. But, I do push my trucks beyond what the designers probably had in mind....