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It runs again 7 years later! Looking for help with my powersteering

broflow

broflow

Tinbanger
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It runs again!


So, Its only taken 7 years to get this truck running again. My son in the drivers seat is 11 now. When we broke one of the front Dana 44 axle shafts playing on a snow bank he was 4. That was his first and only ride in it. Its turned into the typical snowball project.
Dana 60, Corp. 14 swap, cage, boxed frame, cross over hydro assist steering, beadlock wheels, propane fuel system, 203/205 doubler, T400, electric fans, new seats, and other misc. stuff that I've forgotten in the last 7 years. Basically the motor and body are the only things I have done anything to since last it ran. I've had the money and resources just not the time.

Anyways I've got it running again with the many new modifications. Now I have to get the bugs worked out. I read the just about every thread I could find on hydro assist and it seemed like the steering was working like it should when I got it fired up. My son was able to turn it back and forth easily so I must of gotten the lines to the ram on properly. Of course I was busy dumping tyranny fluid, antifreeze and checking P.S. fluid as it was warming up. Luckily the propane idled well. We probably turned the wheels back and forth lock to lock like 3 times while running when there was a clunk noise and my son could barely turn the wheel. at the same time I noticed a puddle forming under the truck. It looks like the drip is coming from the reservoir on the pump where the hard line coming out of the back and the line might be fastened to the tank? I need to pull it apart to be sure. The pump is the stock one off a 4.3 that came with the whole serpentine set up that I added onto the motor.
All I did to it was drill the orfice out for flow and I think I stretched the spring out?
Did I maybe get carried away with these mods and something blew in the pump? ( the clunk noise?)
 
I'm sorry I can't help too much; I would replace the high-pressure line, refill, and try again.

On another note: our definition of a snowball is very different. I think you meant the project "avalanched," haha
 
Not sure what the clunk is but jack the front end up and cycle the steering back and forth to get the air to bleed out. Turns easier with the wheels off the ground.
 
92yamaha said:
I'm sorry I can't help too much; I would replace the high-pressure line, refill, and try again.

On another note: our definition of a snowball is very different. I think you meant the project "avalanched," haha
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Too much reading in these forums.
 
kgblazerfive said:
Not sure what the clunk is but jack the front end up and cycle the steering back and forth to get the air to bleed out. Turns easier with the wheels off the ground.
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I did that before I ever got the motor running. Is it good practice to do it while engine running too?
 
found the issue with the pump. when I removed one of the studs in three back that goes through the reservoir into the pump casting I can see that the threads in the casting are split in half? I'm guessing a catastrophic pump failure. But what caused that? Hopefully the new one will just work fine?
 
Standard bleeding for a pump is front wheels off the ground and back and forth lock to lock about 15-20 times. It's quite a bit, enough that it is tiring to do.

I wouldn't worry to much about one broken pump. Replace it and move on. Now if another one goes in the same fashion you might have a problem.

You might want to clean everything out all the lines and everything ( make sure you don't have a blocked line causing a hi pressure) while your there for peace of mind?

Edit: I kinda agree about getting carried away. I do it to do. But I think I would see if a stock pump can do what you need it to do before moding it. Just my .02.
 
beags86 said:
Standard bleeding for a pump is front wheels off the ground and back and forth lock to lock about 15-20 times. It's quite a bit, enough that it is tiring to do.

I wouldn't worry to much about one broken pump. Replace it and move on. Now if another one goes in the same fashion you might have a problem.

That's kinda what I thought too. it was a 20 year old pump.

You might want to clean everything out all the lines and everything ( make sure you don't have a blocked line causing a hi pressure) while your there for peace of mind?

everything was new (lines,cooler) just a use pump and a new to me but used 2 wheel drive gear box. I suppose there could of been something in the box? It worked good for about 5-10 minutes.

what's the best way to flush a system? Just leave the Return line coming back to the pump off and dump a couple of sacrifacial quarts through it?



Edit: I kinda agree about getting carried away. I do it to do. But I think I would see if a stock pump can do what you need it to do before moding it. Just my .02.
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That's how I would do it. Plumb the return into a bucket and flush a few quarts through.
 
so more updates. I replaced the pump, flushed 4 quarts through it and tried bleeding it out. Through all of this I still have the clunk when I get turned it about 3/4 to the right it pops, clunks or whatever you want to call it. so we start taking steering joints off until we were down to just the gearbox and still had the noise. So new gearbox is ordered. The one I had on there was a unknown junkyard donor. I converted it for hydro assist. I'm wondering if when I changed out the ended cap or when I tapped the top cap if I messed something up?
I pulled the top cap off so I can just trade it out when the new gear comes. I cycled the box back and forth with the cap off and watched the gears mesh. I could still reproduce the noise, but still couldn't see what was making it? I've never had a gearbox apart before so I really don't know what I'm looking for? I'm just curious. When I pulled the end cap off I ran the piston out and then found all of the ball bearings that must track the piston gear on the shaft with the helix on it. I can't see any obvious things that were making this noise, could one of those ball bearing have been getting caught some how? I'll have to be careful when changing out the endcap on the new one. Possibly I let the piston run out when I changed it the first time and one of the bearings jumped out?

My other question would be I assume that I can swap the top cap that I have tapped already and that they aren't matched pieces?

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Alright this is getting frustrating now. So I got the new steering gear put in, cycled the steering back and forth 15 times with engine off. Then fired it up. (this is like Deja-vu) My son steered it back and forth a couple of times from lock to lock (turning very easily) and then as its about to max out at full right lock and it made a bang,pop or whatever and I have a leaking brand new pump. It would appear to be leaking from the same stud coming out of the back of the P.S. reservoir again like the last time so I'm guessing that the pump is cracked again. I won't know until I take the whole damn thing apart again.
So I did reuse the drilled out orifice and stretched spring that was from the first pump. Could this be my problem? I review all of the threads I could find on P.S. pumps and modifying them and thought that drilling the orifice would just help the flow and that stretching that large spring out just helps with pressure at high rpm. I didn't touch anything with the piston or take it apart. I figured these were safe to do.
Do I possibly have something else going on? I flushed 4 quarts of fluid through it after I put the new pump on last time so I think it should be cleaned out good, and everything is new in the whole system.

I'm looking for any advice on this. I'm sure that my local parts store will warranty the pump but if it blows up again I don't know if they will. I plan on leaving the pump totally stock this next time to rule that out.
 
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