Power steering whoops, need advice

[Monster Mike]

Hey guys, I'm running a saginaw pump on my stock 302 using that cute little stock cooler that bolts to the motor. Its basically hard steel line bent into a tight u shape with fins. The whole thing is maybe 8" long.

Anyways one of the ends was bent & finally weared a pinhole leak so I lopped it off. While cleaning off the cut end a half circle burr fell into the cooler line & I tried getting it out with a magnet & was unsuccessful. Got distracted & ran out of time & hooked it all back up & forgot about it. Went wheeling yesterday & everytime I picked a hard line & had to work the steering pump hard it would whine after I was done with the obstacle like it was at full lock yet it was at rest with the motor ideling. a couple minutes later it was quiet again.

What I'm wondering is if that little metal burr can work its way through the pump into the box?

Any ideas of where & how to look for it & fish it out?

can a burr the size of a finger nail clipping hurt the pump & box?

Also has anyone here tried this mod w/o ram assist? I'm wondering if this mod is ok for a wheeler/daily driver

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

Thx!

 

[Monster Mike]

Dang lots of looky lous but no feed back yet....bumpity bump!

 

[Nightstick]

Hard to say whether or not a burr will interfere with your systems operation. It would depend on where it's stuck, and what position it's stuck in.

Before I installed my cooler and ram assist, I was running a saggy with astro boost and a 4x4x2 box. I learned pretty quick that not having a cooler was a huge mistake, and not having ram assist was also hurting my rigs potential. At K2, I had a small leak on my box, which resulted in burning up the pump, and causing things to not work well either.

I have since replaced the pump and added the cooler, TRO, and ram, and it's a night and day difference. A must have if you're wheeling on big rocks.

I don't know anything about the west Texas mod, but I replaced the pump's HP fitting with a fitting I got from PSC so I could use -AN fittings. It's supposed to increase the pressure, but I don't know the specifics on it.

 

[Viperwolf1]

can a burr the size of a finger nail clipping hurt the pump & box?

Yep. Pump and box have very tight clearances to get the fluid up to about 1500 psi.

 

[Monster Mike]

Ok, nightstick thank you for sharing your experience.

Viper, what is your bet on where this burr might be? I think it can't get out of the pump but I'm not sure where it is.

 

[Viperwolf1]

Ok, nightstick thank you for sharing your experience.

Viper, what is your bet on where this burr might be? I think it can't get out of the pump but I'm not sure where it is.

Probably in the pump if its still in one piece.