Problem with Steering box replacement -bleeding

[WJACKSON11X]

Replaced my steering gear box my 91 Suburban. Install went well. I went through the bleeding process. Truck off, lock to lock about 30 times filling reservoir as needed. Started the truck and I have no power steering. Figured I had air still in the lines so I shut the truck off and continued to cycle the steering. After about 100 times, I still have no power steering.

At this point I though maybe the new steering box I got was bad, so I proceeded to install the old one. Still the same issue, which tells me that I must have air in the system somewhere. Installed the new box again and tried to bleed it again to no avail.

Is there a possibility that I still have air trapped somewhere in the system?

NOTE- There is a factory power steering cooler under the radiator. It's basically just tube snaked around several times. Not sure if this would cause an issue.

I do notice better power assist when the RPM's are higher, but still not great. It's pretty much not driveable like it is now.

I also notice that when I turn to the right (truck off) the fluid comes to the very top of the reservoir. Does this indicate that there is an air pocket in the system?

This is starting to drive me crazy and can't figure out what is going on. Power steering pump was working great before the box replacement, so I don't suspect it to be an issue.

 

[dremu]

There's a number of variations on the bleeding process. Here's what I do, YMMV.

Back when I had a stock reservoir, I put a ~2' long chunk of radiator hose onto the top where the fill cap goes, so that when it burped (and it burped a lot), PS fluid didn't splash everywhere. Find some way to give you a nice long neck on the reservoir.

Jack up the front end so the wheels are off the ground. Engine off, cycle back and forth a dozen or so times. Check fluid level, top off as required. Put the long neck back on.

Then start her up for 30 seconds or so. turn it off. Check fluid level / top off again. Finally, run engine and cycle back and forth a dozen ish times, kill motor, check level / top off last time.

Out of curiosity, why replace the box? Are we sure the pump isn't bad or that the valve on the back is gummed up or something? (Mind you, don't go replacing the pump willy-nilly, as just removing/installing the pulley is a pain unless you have the tools and knowhow.)

-- A

 

[WJACKSON11X]

I moved the drivetrain from my K5 crawler over to my Suburban. I have 1 tons with crossover, so I used the 2wd steering box that was used on my crawler. The box was just slap worn out from abuse and was sketchy at times.

The box install went great but I still had no power steering. After checking everything, I came to the conclusion that the pump had gone out. What are the chances of the pump going out the same time that I changed the gear box? Well, turns out the chances were pretty high because I changed the pump last night and now I have power steering.

Of course the brand new pump is noisy as hell. I just wish they could make parts worth a damn. At least I have power steering now and the truck drives soooo much better now. Lesson learned

 

[skunked]

the noise could be air in the line still. My last pump was noisy for a bit and then quieted down after a dozen heat cycles.