Power Steering & Hydraboost help

[Fader]

Hello. I am having some power steering & now braking issues.

A year ago I purchased a '82 Chevy c30 that has a '92 or '93 6bt out of a '93 Oshkosh RV swapped into it.

Everything seemed good on it for the most part with one exception. It leaked a lot of power steering fluid. The pump on it is massive & really pushes some fluid. I'm guessing because it previously had to push fluid all the way from the back of the RV.

The previous owner installed a resovoir & the fluid was coming in with so much force that 99% of the leaking fluid was coming from the cap. Its my understanding that you need a vented style cap?

Anyways I went on a mission to find a larger resovoir that could handle this scenario.
I found a small one made by chase bays. Its pretty slick... it features a triple baffled entrance to the resovoir that vastly slows down the fluid entering.
They advertise something like 120-12 psi or some crazy slow down. They sell a lot of them to tuner car guys.

I installed it with all new rubber hoses & it works perfect slowing down the flow of fluid into the resovoir... one major problem is that the hydroboost now locks up all of the brakes slightly & my initial thought is that the baffle system on the new resovoir is causing this.
Chase Bays doesn't know much regarding hydroboost & was unaware of others using their product how I attempted to utilize it.

When I disconnected the return line & stuck it in a Gatorade bottle the brakes didn't engage on start up like they do when the plumbing is all connected.

So I figured that I would replace the PS pump (probably should have just done that first). So I went to the parts store & looked at both a 1992 & a 1994 Ram PS pump. Neither appear to have the same shaft into the block as mine does.

I only included a 1994 model because this 6bt did come with a P-Pump even though its a earlier model year than the Rams that got them....

So I called the local Cummins parts place & they were absolutely no help at all... unfortunately (for me) the engine ID tag is missing in action & without that apparently you are dead to them.

Sorry for the novel.... looking for advice as this amazing converted pickup has turned into a driveway paperweight that is not drivable.

The ps pump on the truck now has only 2 bolts to the block & has more of a asterisks shape to it.
The ps pumps at O'Reillys & that i see online have more of a round shape with protruding slot that sticks out from it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ozymandias]

Try to re-route the return hose from the hydro boost, it doesn't like any back pressure at all.
Thats why your brakes come on automatically now.

 

[Fader]

Try to re-route the return hose from the hydro boost, it doesn't like any back pressure at all.
Thats why your brakes come on automatically now.

I have it taking a relatively direct route now.
It leaves the hydroboost & heads straight to the resovoir which is mounted near the pump & is attached to the radiator support.
No sharp bends at all....it does tee off to catch the steering box. I made sure that the line goes straight from hydro to resovoir & the steering gets the angled part of the tee...only other item of note in that run is that it does switch from 3/8s to 1/2 line right towards the resovoir as it only accepted a 1/2 line.

 

[BigPapa]

This is from Cummins Forum (ugghhh....), but it does have some part numbers for a 4BT P/S Pump adapter and info for installation of a standard Dodge P/S Pump without the vacuum pump.

https://www.cumminsforum.com/threads/4bt-power-steering-pump-to-6bt-help.1336273/post-24608858

 

[Ozymandias]

I just checked the chase bays reservoir.

Does it really have that tiny orifice as a return inlet according to the pictures on their website??
If so - that might works fine on a BMW but for our high flow pumps that is way to little, it will make way to muck back pressure into the return line.

 

[Fader]

This is from Cummins Forum (ugghhh....), but it does have some part numbers for a 4BT P/S Pump adapter and info for installation of a standard Dodge P/S Pump without the vacuum pump.

https://www.cumminsforum.com/threads/4bt-power-steering-pump-to-6bt-help.1336273/post-24608858

Interesting thread. Thank you.

I will read through that more after work today.

 

[Fader]

I just checked the chase bays reservoir.

Does it really have that tiny orifice as a return inlet according to the pictures on their website??
If so - that might works fine on a BMW but for our high flow pumps that is way to little, it will make way to muck back pressure into the return line.

That makes sense. I can imagine that it's quite restrictive.
I guess that I want to track down a power steering pump with resovoir to replace the monster RV pump or find a resovoir the size of a milk jug to handle the ridiculous flow of fluid being pumped in.

 

[Fader]

This is almost exactly what my PS pump currently looks like.

 

[BigPapa]

I looked into the HD pumps a few years ago. Our buses use the HD pumps and all the hoses except the supply hose from the reservoir are 3000psi hydraulic hoses. Here's a chart I found showing flows and pressures. Our OE pumps run 1450-1550 psi and 3.1-3.5 gpm. That's basically the specs on the smallest of the HD pumps.