Power steering pump whine's with 4x4x2 box

[casadejohnson]

I finally finished my conversion from stock power steering to a Rock crawler 4x4x2 Box last night and started the process of getting the air out. I fired it up and promptly dumped all of the fluid on the garage floor. It would appear that when you have a hydroboost you should remember to hook up both return lines. Got that taken care of and tried again. Everything works fine and I drove it around for a few hours so I'm pretty sure all the air is out. The problem is that the pump whines like crazy! It was quiet as could be with the stock steering box. I'm thinking that when I ran the fluid out of it I damaged something inside. The pump is a dual return saginaw from a 197? who knows what. Any suggestions? I could rebuild it or go to the junk yard and get a "New" one but it would be nice to fix it in place. Could I still have air in it? It is of course worse when its all the way to the lock and it screams pretty good when I jam on the brakes because of the Hydroboost.

Also, what gets Power steering fluid / ATF out of concrete? I got the big mess cleaned up but the garage floor is pretty stained.

 

[fordtrucksrule]

gas works ummm try to disconnect the pitman arm and with the motor off and turn the wheel lock to lock about 10 times and see what happens i had the same problem when i did mine but my ps box wined bad and i filled it up and when i turned the motor off it totally puked all over unitl i took the pitman arm off.

 

[canrel]

Some of the later ford cars have you disconnect the coil, so the engine won't start, crank the engine while turning the wheel lock to lock a few times. If there is air in the lines the pump will compress it into the fluid with the motor running. It turns much slower while only cranking, so the air has a chance to escape the fluid when passing through the resivore. The air being compressed into the fluid will cause the pump to puke as the air bubbles expand after the engine is turned off.
Try floor sweep or cat litter on the floor. put it down, pour a small amount of gas into it, I walk on it crushing the floor sweep to halp it into the pores of the concret. Sweep it over the stain a few times and it should get all the fluid out of the concret.

 

[casadejohnson]

What does disconnecting the pitman arm do? I jacked it up and turned it lock to lock 20 times. I also did it 10-15 times before I hooked up the steering. It did puke all over about 3 times on my first short test drive around the neighborhood. As am matter of fact, I just came in from washing out the engine bay to clean it up but I only drove it in from the garage so I don't know if it improved at all. I did check the level and it did not drop at all so I assume no more air has worked its way out.

 

[ak68]

Keep checking your fluid. I did the same turn to turn 20+ times with the engine off and the wheels off the ground. I still got a little air several days later.

 

[fordtrucksrule]

well it will take the load off i will be easier to bleed the air out

 

[casadejohnson]

well it will take the load off i will be easier to bleed the air out

I'll give it a shot.

 

[Dusty]

Taking the pitman arm off, or just disconnecting the drag link from it, is an important step. The reason is because the steering stops on the knuckles, or the tires hitting the radius arms in some cases, will usually stop you short of the actual limit of travel in the steering gear itself. Jacking the wheels up off the ground doesn't solve this.

Dusty

 

[casadejohnson]

Taking the pitman arm off, or just disconnecting the drag link from it, is an important step. The reason is because the steering stops on the knuckles, or the tires hitting the radius arms in some cases, will usually stop you short of the actual limit of travel in the steering gear itself. Jacking the wheels up off the ground doesn't solve this.

Dusty

Dusty, Thats what I was looking for. I did not think about the steering stops. I'll drop the drag link tonight and see what that does.

 

[Hal9000]

Regarding the floor, I use dry dish detergent or laundry detergent. spread it like kitty litter and leave it to soak up the oil... Walking on it helps.

After a day or so, add a little water and scrub with a stiff broom, then hose it off.

Of course a power washer works even better..