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95 Chevy 1ton possible steering issues.

Awesome advice :) Thank you.

I took the truck out for a spin to the grocery store. steering seemed fine and braking was better... but... there always seems to be a "but" in my situation lol

the PS pump is wining at higher rpms :arghh: I checked the fluid to make sure it wasn't low or was foamy and it all looked good. clean and full. it's not wining loud like it's starving for fluid but I can hear it.
 
He just finished doing that to the P/S system, that was the purpose of the system flush, fill and test drive. He's been dinking around with this so long, I can't remember if he did all three brake hoses, Front L/R and the center rear.
 
the rubber brake hoses are on order. Hasn't arrived yet but I just replaced the PS hoses and flushed. once all three brake hoses arrive Ill be installing them and the "new" wheel cylinders since I used the old ones from the dually rear end as a test since there was a question on having the correct parts.

Right now I'm much happier on the braking feel, now working all the quirks out of the steering system since I screwed up buying reman parts from AAP! pump, gear and HB are all reman units most likely done by A1-Cardone. never had issues before in the past but I've never had this big and heavy of a truck. I've learned the hard way not to cheap out and trusting the local auto parts to list the correct stuff by application!
 
what is the right way to bleed the power steering system? I remember seeing it mentioned in another thread here somewhere but for the life of me I can't find it! if memory serves me correctly, I think it was something like lifting the front wheels and steering lock to lock and pumping the brakes with the engine off, but I can't remember all the details. I sure I introduced air in the system changing the lines and flushing.
 
Yeah. Engine idling sitting there parked. Turn the wheel lock-to-lock 3-4 times. Check and top off P/S reservoir if needed. You've now bled all the air out of the P/S system.
 
I got to mess with it today a little bit and didn't see anything like a bracket or something vibrating maybe causing the whining noise i hear. I'm wondering if maybe the pressure valve is stuck somehow in the pump. even though the noise is there and you can hear it the most at around 1500 or so rpm it doesn't seem to effect the steering effort that I can tell, allthough the tone of the whine changes a bit steering into where i'm going to park.

when I was flushing it, I did (twice) run the pump out of fluid but shut it off immediately and refilled. But several times after that happened I was able to time it just right and stop to refill before hand.

I also checked the fluid temp with my thermometer I had in the dash AC vent after a trip in town (about 10 miles round trip). opened the cap and stuck the probe in and it showed right at 170 degrees. any ideas what happened or did I just put my pump on it's 9th life lol it's last leg!
 
No, as soon as I heard the pump i shut it off!

I just had a brain fart. I forgot i am able to control the rpm with GMTD so I just went out and set it to 1500 and let it run for a couple minutes. didn't hear anything so I worked the steering and brake pedal. the whine / moan noise started. mind you I was out in the truck maybe 1/2 an hour ago so it was still pretty much warmed up already. put it back to idle and stuck my thermometer in and it showed 160.

bumped the idle to 1500 again and tried to isolate the noise. worked the steering a little more and the moan got louder... it's coming from the pump. I placed my hand on the inlet pressure fitting on the HB and damn near burnt my hand! checked the temp again and it showed almost at 200 degrees. dropped the rpm back to idle and waited a minuet and rechecked temp of the fluid. it went down to about 190. how hot does the fluid in these systems get? could I be looking at another restriction still?

I know I just worked it a little harder this time to try and find the noise, but dam it got hot quick. I couldn't imagine what a 2+ hour drive would do.
 
Idk normal temp- thats a great question. We know 250f is ok for atf, not sure the regular power steering fluid.

Do you have a power steering cooler on there?
Yes. There’s a small one mounted upright close to the headlight bucket and turn signals on the drivers side. It’s so far to the side it seems covered by the grill to block air flow to it! It only has one tube in it in a U shape with fins
 
I overkill and run a 11" x 11" x .50", 24k BTU rejection fin plate cooler (LPD LONG) for power steering, however, I run higher pump pressure than stock and have a 12k hydro winch...w/AMSOIL P/S fluid, barely ever over 10 degrees of ambient in normal DD operation will go slightly higher when using the winch.
 
I overkill and run a 11" x 11" x .50", 24k BTU rejection fin plate cooler (LPD LONG) for power steering, however, I run higher pump pressure than stock and have a 12k hydro winch...w/AMSOIL P/S fluid, barely ever over 10 degrees of ambient in normal DD operation will go slightly higher when using the winch.
Pictures man, pictures!!

ok Brannon - wanted to make sure someone hadn’t removed yours- seen that before.
 
I talked to one if the guys at work this morning about it. he handed me a 3000 psi gauge with a fitting on it, said to disconnect the pressure line from the pump at the HB and connect this gauge. he told me that this will dead head the pump to not run it more that a minuet, just long enough to read the pressure and then shut it off, to do it when it's already warmed up and it should read about 1200 if the pressure relief if doing it's job. he also added if the pulley locks and the belt goes to squealing shut it off quick, that alone will tell that the relief in the pump is stuck and I'll need another pump.
 
I like the idea of a larger cooler. my only problem is locations to mount one. there's already an oil cooler taking up most of the left side behind the grille and a trans cooler covering most of the right side! I guess I could try moving the one that's in there out where it would get better air flow. I really wish there was room to mount a condenser fan to help when idling with the ac in there too but there's just not enough room with the extra coolers crammed in there! maybe one day I can pull the brush guard and grille and try re-arranging it all to fit, but that will be another project on it's own.
 
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