1996 ford explorer steering wheel will barely turn

Under steering wheel behind fuse box on a circuit card.

You have a bad flasher,go online type in google images ford blinker flasher so you will see what the look like.its located under the drivers side steering wheel probably in the fuse box pull the old one out replace it with a heavy duty flasher problem solved

You either have a shorted clock spring contact under the steering wheel or the airbag is defective.

check the horn relay first, in the engine comaprtment fuse/relay box. see owner manual for chart.

You had the truck aligned after you
installed the new rack ?

If possible, and it should not be,
are the hoses reversed on rack ?

Have you checked under the steering wheel? There should be a panel located right under the steering wheel with 4 type screws you can undo with a penny or a dime.. Fuse panel is located right there.

If you mean it is very hard to turn steering wheel & it wont or barely returns after steering to left or right. Look at bottom of steering column shaft under the hood. It is very common for steering shaft u-joints to become dried & seized up. Spray up both u-joints & rubber rag joint with a good penetrating oil like " PB Blaster" it is magnetic & will lubricate seized u-joints. Be sure to turn all the way left & spray & all the way right & spray. Let sit for a bit then turn wheel all the way left & all the way right. If it gets better then be sure to lubricate every so often. If it doesn't get better you will need to change the steering shaft.

try turning the steering wheel hard as u turn the key

pull cover off of bottom and turn key to on and push pin up with scratch owl should be able to remove tumbler then

have you had you tires checked for bubbles, or for being out of ballance? i had that problem too and found out i had one front tire out of ballance and one had a bubble