Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Steering made easy

[RDBuck]

A few months ago I made several posts about my 02 being difficult to steer. I do a lot of boat launching and winter snow plowing where I need slow speed steering control that does not require two hands. The truck has the hydro-boost system for the brakes which uses hydraulic pressure from the power steering pump. The brakes seemed to require more effort as well-which led me to suspect the pump. Truck had about 43,000 miles. To make story short, I bought a "Hi-displacement" pump from PSC (Performance Steering Components)#1490 for $155. (If you do this ask for a pump with the drive dog installed,it will make your job much easier. ) It helped quite a bit with both steering and brakes but still not where I wanted to be. Called PSC and had a long talk. They have found that the hydro-boost is usually at fault. It seems there is a wide variation in the amount of pressure one hydro-boost unit, compared to another, will draw off the system. Rather than chance getting a "good" unit by luck,I opted instead to buy PSC's steering box #841M ($290) guaranteed to give "one finger" steering. It worked as promised. I did all of the work and it was not difficult. Hopes this helps someone else that may have this problem.