I'm just curious about the steering on these.

My parents have one and it has a dead spot in the middle of the steering range.

If you drive straight there is a gap that the steering does nothing.

And when its in this position the car has a tendency to wander

 

Is this normal?

Or does it mean the steering rack is going away?

This is used as a mail vehicle and if it fails, I'm probably gonna have to help fix it

Not to mention my parents will be down one car :-\

 

Twitch

Check the tie rod ends, those are a common wear items.

 

-Bill

parallelogram steering. more places to wear out and get loose, hence the vague steering. check the conditions of the idler arm and the pitman arm, this is what holds the steering square to the frame itself

Very common with Fords. I've had to do tie-rod ends on several mid to late 90's vintage Fords. For some reason some years had really bad tie-rod ends while other's seem to never fail. Poor quality parts from overseas suppliers I suppose.

 

GD