2002 Ram 1500 5.9L 4wd quad cab:

The steering rack on my truck has been leaking for a little while now... Well I was driving home from work the other day and everything was fine with my truck. Then when I got off at my exit I was turning and realized that I had no power steering. So I got home and looked under the truck and saw that both of the boots on the steering rack on each side were FULL of fluid and looked like they were about to bust (like there was a lot of pressure in them or maybe they were just that full). So my question is.... Obviously I need a new steering rack since the seals on the ends are toast. So I installed that today and am going to add fluid and bleed out the air tomorrow. But why did the boots fill up that much and seem to be pressurized (unless it was because they were full of fluid). Do these trucks have a pressure switch or bypass valve or somthing that could have failed? If so where is it? Is it in the rack? I just don't want to ruin this new rack also if there is something else that is wrong.

Thanks!
Steve

 

anyone know? I getting ready to go out and mess with it....

 

The seal leaked fluid into the bellow (boot) and probably ran through the little air tube into the other bellow. I've seen it before.