Steering box going bad?

[dremu]

How do I tell when my steering box is going bad? I know, gets piercings, hangs out with wrong people, that sort of thing.

As part of my dinking with the tow rig I've swapped in a O-ring style box to go with the O-ring pump and hydroboost setup. It turns okay, but doesn't seem to provide any assist; at least with the wheels off the ground, it's equally easy to turn the wheel with the engine off as with the engine on.

It's the same pump as before, albeit in a new can (err, reservoir) and with O-ring style hoses, and the pump will empty itself pretty quickly still, so I assume it's working okay.

I've also adjusted the box (I had to swap sector shafts on it, as it was a 4WD box), which I've done before, so I think I know how to do that.

Anything else I'm missing, or is it time to go get another box?

-- A

 

[theperfectgarage]

How is it coming out of a turn? Does it want to return to center or kinda want to stay into the turn?

 

[dremu]

How is it coming out of a turn? Does it want to return to center or kinda want to stay into the turn?

You think the truck will move under its own power?

Serously, I donno. I'm still in the driveway. I think it may stay there forever

-- A

 

[pvfjr]

I think I'd wait till you got it out of the driveway. If it doesn't feel right at that time, then put it back in the driveway and work on it. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. I think it'd be too hard to check assist with no load.

 

[stallion85]

You think the truck will move under its own power?

Serously, I donno. I'm still in the driveway. I think it may stay there forever

-- A

Little off topic, but when I read this I thought it would make a great slogan for the Home page. Seems to be the driving motto round these parts.....lol

 

[73k5blazer]

How easy or hard is it to turn the wheels by hand. With the front on jackstands, you should be able to grab a tire and turn it. A very very general test, but in the end, if you can't do this, then the box was adjusted to tight.
Is the Hydroboost setup new then, cause I might blame that next, being how you say the pump is the same as before (save for the fittings). Does it provide boost when the engine's on and you hit the brakes? It takes a lot of dinking to bleed the whole system with a hydroboost pump as well, I take it you did the turn wheels back and forth about 20 times thing to bleed it? I think there was a procedure outlined in the GM service manual for bleeding the system with hydro-boost, you might want to puruse the manuals for that.

 

[Dallin]

The valving inside the steering gear requires resistance from the tires to turn on the hydraulic assist. If there is no resistance there is no assist.

 

[pvfjr]

The valving inside the steering gear requires resistance from the tires to turn on the hydraulic assist. If there is no resistance there is no assist.

That's kinda what I was thinking, but I didn't want to just talk from my butt since I didn't know for sure.

 

[dremu]

Or, the filter screen on the pressure outlet of the pump could be gunked up, so gunked up that very little fluid flows

I was taking apart the outlet fittings to compare them to the WTO diagram

http://westtexasoffroad.homestead.com/powersteering.html

Which is, btw, very helpful ... anyway, he mentions this screen, and I think "What screen? I don't remember a screen!"

Bunch of brake cleaner later, reassembled, voila, I have fluid flowing. Now to sort out how to bleed a hydroboost-equipped PS system... and maybe, just maybe, the damn truck will move under its own power...

-- A