This Explorer power steering sucks

[Bundy]

That's a cool box Lars-if only my welds looked that good...

an update for you all: I got my new Lee's reservoir installed with the pump they rebuilt and I don't know if it was because the pump was already primed from their testing or what but it took MINIMAL "burping" to get the system working flawlessly- I am talking one-finger steering and I maybe went lock to lock 5 times.

BUT, because I am a f@#king retard, when I put the pulley back on my newly rebuilt PS pump (Hoburn is the brand) I didn't lock the pump's pulley drive with the hex key when I put the pulley's bolts back on. As a result, the bolts backed off and after a trip around the block the pulley was so wobbly it burned up the bearing (F#CK!) and fluid was squirting out from the bearing when under load.

I am so very pissed off at myself, but at least it worked for a trip around the block.

SO, as it stands now, do I wait another week to send this fried pump back to Lee's for another pricey rebuild OR try a reman pump and hope that it was the reservoir the whole time? If a stock reman pump works, I know that it was the reservoir the whole time.

 

[DanWheeler]

your STOCK pump should work fine with a STOCK reservoir. It works great for hundreds of thousands of Explorers including mine and many of ours on this board.

So... i'd go for a stock pump.

lock to lock a million times with the tires in the air. It tooks several hours to get the air out when I did mine and it took another week of driving around to finally stop groaning. Dont let the fluid get low or it will just introduce more air and make it worse.

 

[garberz]

Send it back to Lee's, they can fix it without having to go through the whole thing. That's a bummer how that happened. I guess you really are "Learning the hard way...".%) When you put it back together next time, that should be it, right? I hope your done with this upgrade. Oh wait, you still need Hydro Boost.;D

 

[Bundy]

It must just be luck of the draw if the stock setup works. I know my setup is not any different than other EB owners, but it just didn't work. Maybe the reservoir was working fine and the pumps I had were crap. Lee's said that there was a brass fitting in the reman I bought that that has to do with priming which has to be in the correct place or it won't work at all- maybe this was the issue.

As far as using the stock setup, all I know is that when I got my shit back from Lee's, I cycled the steering maybe 4-5 times motor off with the wheels off the ground and 4-5 times with the motor running and she worked beautifully... it took 5 minutes instead of the 4-5 hours I spent trying the stock setup.

I talked to Lee's and he said to send it back, it's probably just the bushing causing the leak and he would only charge me $20 to fix it and I would still have the upped gallons rating.

It all sucks and I feel stupid for doing it, but i am hoping the damage was minimal... the damage to my pride is the worst of it :-X

 

[bronco-billy-66]

I'd like to see what the upgraded res. looks like..Do u have a pic? Do u know what the issue with the stock res. is??

 

[toddz69]

I'd like to see what the upgraded res. looks like..Do u have a pic? Do u know what the issue with the stock res. is??

This isn't the greatest shot, but it gives you an idea of what the custom, million-dollar one that Lee made for me about 5 years ago looks like. It's about the same volume as the stocker but has two -6 AN returns on it and it's all aluminum construction. I'm not a fan of plastic reservoirs.

Todd Z.

 

[todd.gorman]

This isn't the greatest shot, but it gives you an idea of what the custom, million-dollar one that Lee made for me about 5 years ago looks like. It's about the same volume as the stocker but has two -6 AN returns on it and it's all aluminum construction. I'm not a fan of plastic reservoirs.

Todd Z.

Dont mean to hi jack but what brake master cylinder is that? I want to go to a plastic MC reservoir.

 

[toddz69]

Dont mean to hi jack but what brake master cylinder is that? I want to go to a plastic MC reservoir.

That was a late '90s/early 00's 1.25" bore Dodge master cylinder that I used for awhile. I have since gone back to a 1.125" bore Dodge master. I like the plastic reservoirs as well and thanks to Nickstrix, I was able to source an aftermarket replacement Dodge unit through rockauto some time ago with the white reservoir body so I can check fluid levels at a glance.

Todd Z.

 

[broncoitis]

In process of rounding up the Explorer Serp parts for the conversion and after reading this a little skeptical about using the explorer pump. I'm sure that it will be fine! However, I already have a brand new Saginaw pump with remote resevior that I would like to use instead from PSC in TX! Are there any brackets made that could adapt the aftermarket pumps to the Serp setup? ?:?

 

[bronco-billy-66]

This isn't the greatest shot, but it gives you an idea of what the custom, million-dollar one that Lee made for me about 5 years ago looks like. It's about the same volume as the stocker but has two -6 AN returns on it and it's all aluminum construction. I'm not a fan of plastic reservoirs.

Todd Z.

That is a nice looking res.. Other than the AN fittings, how is it better than the stock one? I'm just trying to figure out what the issue is with the stocker. Does it have some special baffles?
I have all the exploder stuff, I just need to put it on. trying to figure all this out;D

 

[mattt]

That is a nice looking res.. Other than the AN fittings, how is it better than the stock one? I'm just trying to figure out what the issue is with the stocker. Does it have some special baffles?
I have all the exploder stuff, I just need to put it on. trying to figure all this out;D

There is no issue with the stocker.

 

[Broncrick]

Mine pushes 37" 14.5's just fine, fine enough to find the frame weak spot while on the 'con. I'm keeping mine ;D

 

[toddz69]

That is a nice looking res.. Other than the AN fittings, how is it better than the stock one? I'm just trying to figure out what the issue is with the stocker. Does it have some special baffles?
I have all the exploder stuff, I just need to put it on. trying to figure all this out;D

Strictly on a cost/benefit analysis, it's not any better than a stocker.

Todd Z.

 

[Bundy]

Mine looks similar to Todd's. I was told that the baffles help reduce the movement of the fluid, thus reducing the amount of "aeration" that the fluid may experience which would make it friggin impossible to prime.

I was very tempted to buy another shitty reman pump just to see if it was the pump gallons being turned up that helped, the priming of the pump before installation, or the reservoir.

 

[Bundy]

Got my pump back and they had to rebuild the whole damn thing. The $100 lesson is "TIGHTEN THE F@CKING PULLEY ALL THE WAY" so you don't have to have your pump done twice.

I plugged it in and barely went lock to lock and I am very happy to say I have one finger steering and everything is finally perfect.

My advice to anyone doing the exploder serp is to try to fill up the pump with fluid before you install the lines to try to aid in priming. I think the main culprit was not being able to prime the pump effectively either because of the reservoir or the pump's priming function is inadequate. This cost me a shitload more than I thought.

 

[EricLar80]

Got my pump back and they had to rebuild the whole damn thing. The $100 lesson is "TIGHTEN THE F@CKING PULLEY ALL THE WAY" so you don't have to have your pump done twice.

So, what was it about not tightening the pulley all the way that caused your issue?

All in all, do you think the rebuild by Lee Mfg is worth it, or should the stocker work fine for 33's?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[KyleQ]

Don't be afraid to call the guy's at PSC if you have problems or need line parts, they are one of the most friendly companies out there.

I've got to find someone who welds aluminum as I need to make a custom reservoir to fit under the hood for my PSC boosted Explorer setup.

 

[casadejohnson]

This is a kinda crappy photo but you can see my "Custom" Reservoir for my explorer power steering. I ran the stock reservoir for a while with a "T" in the line for the hydroboost. The "T" was a major restriction so I made this by cutting the top off of a saginaw pump and making a sheet metal box. It has a return on the front for the power steering and one on the rear for the hydroboost. Its not pretty but it does the job. Someday when I have all my 10,000 other Bronco projects done I'll try to make another one thats a little more "Pretty". This one holds close to twice the volume of the stock reservoir.

 

[Bundy]

I finally got everything back in an running. Once again, i barely had to burp the system to get it working tits.

My conclusion is that while the stock explorer reservoir works, it is not a "burp" friendly option, hence alll the posts about going lock to lock 50 times.

This new setup was plug and play and had I not messed up the first pump, I would do this upgrade right off the bat. Not only does it look WAY better and mounts WAY nicer, it was so much simpler and easy to use- no jenky jerry-rigging.

All in all, my advice is if you have the extra $200 in your budget, have them (any PS vendor) up your pumps gallons so that your pump is confirmed working and "pre-primed" when you get it.

Here are the results- it looks so much better than the shitty plastic one AND having the custom reservoir negated the hood clearance issue I had.

 

[Tito]

So was it $200 for the pump rebuild and the reservoir? Thats a good price if so.