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Power Steering help - mixed components

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  the glassman 
#1 ·
I'm having some power steering issues and I'm hoping to pick the brain of someone with more hydro experience than myself.

I have a 1973 429 ford big block and an early 90s chevy half-ton steering box running double swinger steering on my '69 f100. I have a derale power steering cooler mounted inline on the return side of the system.

The issue is that my steering is either incredibly tough to operate or completely stuck with the tires on the ground. Last night I had the truck in the air, engine running, and then I tried steering left to right and there were times when I could feel it working correctly and then every so often it would be very tough, as if the pump wasn't pushing fluid consistently. I tried bleeding the system by having the dip stick off and having my friend turn the wheel with the engine running while i filled the pump.

With the pitman arm - steering link disconnected the tires turn freely. With the steering column disconnected from the box, the box is free. I do have some extra friction in my steering column assembly, but I'm sure that's not the primary issue.

the pump is an autozone remanufactured unit that replaced the internals, not the whole exterior housing. Maybe I'm getting air in the system there?

Do the old power steering pumps put out enough pressure to drive "modern" steering boxes?
Should I replace the whole pump anyway and try a different bleed procedure?
Any other troubleshooting ideas?
 
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#2 ·
Are you running that stock Ford Pump?
The Thompson pump.


Those pumps have a lot of problems pushing anything larger then a 30 inch tire.
I also don't know what a double swinger steering setup is.

You'll want to swap to a saginaw pump, but I'm not sure that will fix yor issue but it is hands down a better pump.
We will have a bracket out for that in about a month.
 
#3 ·
Mark,

That really makes sense. The 429s, I believe, were only really run on passenger cars so I can see how it wouldn't have enough output to move a 35.

Double swinger steering is also known as crossover steering in the desert / prerunner world. Here's an old picture of my truck as an example:


The pump is an OEM style replacement like this one:

Looks like it is a Thompson (never heard of that manufacturer before).

Any info on where I can buy a Saginaw pump and do some research on it?
 
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