Attention: TDR Forum Junkies Ok fella's, I'm coming to the well again... .
Lost my power steering about a week ago, had a leak in the gearbox, much slop, been feeding it fluid, it finally died. Decided to replace the pump, gearbox and lines at the same time. Found a crack around the front mount bolt on the reinforcing plate to the gearbox, so got a new one from the dealer along with the mount gasket for the vacuum pump. Found a replacement seal for the vacuum pump to ps pump shaft at a local bearing house. NAPA for the other parts. I will post all part #'s and prices when I gather up my receipts. Installed everything, bled the ps pump according to the factory service manual, wheels off the ground. While bleeding, I thought the wheel feel was a little stiff, but been driving so long on the old system, didn't know better. Turned from stop to stop with wheels up. When the fluid level stabilized with wheels up, I lowered the vehicle and proceeded to try and turn stop to stop with weight on. No way. No power assist. Looked at the paperwork that came with the pump, It said to check the pressure fitting to confirm that it matched what came out
Doh! So I pulled it out, along with the pressure relief valve and spring, and compared it to the ones from the dead pump. Pressure fitting was identical, the only difference I could find was the relief valve from the dead pump was about a 16th shorter than the replacement. So I put the fitting and relief valve and spring from the dead pump into the new one and started the bleeding process all over again. Wheels up, still stiff
So now I'm starting to get PO'd. Fluid level stabilized, so I decided to turn from stop to stop several times, thinking that perhaps I have an air lock somewhere in the lines or gearbox. After going from stop to stop about 6 times (no, I didn't hang on the stops), the wheel effort gets less, but I'm hearing a hissing noise
. Shut down, hissing coming from the pump, open, lots of foamy ps fluid comes boiling out. Manual states that this could occur, so I'm letting the air settle out until tonight and I will try again to see if maybe I forced an air lock out or something. FWIW, I double checked the installation of the pressure and return lines on the gearbox, they are correct (port furthest away from the tire is pressure, closest to is the return). Also, no sign of leagage from any of the connections, but can't tell if it's sucking air (trucks kinda loud).
Any and all comments are appreciated. Sorry for the length.
Pat
Lost my power steering about a week ago, had a leak in the gearbox, much slop, been feeding it fluid, it finally died. Decided to replace the pump, gearbox and lines at the same time. Found a crack around the front mount bolt on the reinforcing plate to the gearbox, so got a new one from the dealer along with the mount gasket for the vacuum pump. Found a replacement seal for the vacuum pump to ps pump shaft at a local bearing house. NAPA for the other parts. I will post all part #'s and prices when I gather up my receipts. Installed everything, bled the ps pump according to the factory service manual, wheels off the ground. While bleeding, I thought the wheel feel was a little stiff, but been driving so long on the old system, didn't know better. Turned from stop to stop with wheels up. When the fluid level stabilized with wheels up, I lowered the vehicle and proceeded to try and turn stop to stop with weight on. No way. No power assist. Looked at the paperwork that came with the pump, It said to check the pressure fitting to confirm that it matched what came out
Doh! So I pulled it out, along with the pressure relief valve and spring, and compared it to the ones from the dead pump. Pressure fitting was identical, the only difference I could find was the relief valve from the dead pump was about a 16th shorter than the replacement. So I put the fitting and relief valve and spring from the dead pump into the new one and started the bleeding process all over again. Wheels up, still stiff So now I'm starting to get PO'd. Fluid level stabilized, so I decided to turn from stop to stop several times, thinking that perhaps I have an air lock somewhere in the lines or gearbox. After going from stop to stop about 6 times (no, I didn't hang on the stops), the wheel effort gets less, but I'm hearing a hissing noise . Shut down, hissing coming from the pump, open, lots of foamy ps fluid comes boiling out. Manual states that this could occur, so I'm letting the air settle out until tonight and I will try again to see if maybe I forced an air lock out or something. FWIW, I double checked the installation of the pressure and return lines on the gearbox, they are correct (port furthest away from the tire is pressure, closest to is the return). Also, no sign of leagage from any of the connections, but can't tell if it's sucking air (trucks kinda loud). Any and all comments are appreciated. Sorry for the length.
Pat
