72-LT1

Hey Guys,

Was out at a cruise yeaterday and on the way home I started getting some awfull noises, pulled over and my whole power steering pulley was loose and wobbling.

I got the belt off and drove the rest of the way home.

From the looks of things there is going to be no way to get the pulley back on without pulling the pump right?

This was the only thing I did not rebuild when I had the front of the engine off, but I did take the pulley off when I cleaned up and painted everything. I did not rent a pulley tool to put it back on but I don't remember it being hard to get back on, what would of happened?

Would the pump be bad or did the pulley just come loose?


Thanks All

my 76 ray

It could be bad bearings in the pump. Can you tell if the pulley is wobbling on the shaft or is the whole shaft wobbling?

behardt91

You will have to remove the pump. The pulley is pressed on using a special tool but you could easily make the tool yourself. Just get the right size stud to screw inside the pump, then put the pulley on over the stud. Set a washer on top of the pulley with a nut on top of that. Tighten the nut by hand and then slowly with an impact to press the pulley on.

behardt91

My advice is if the pulley actually came off but I wouldn't think it could since it's pressed on.

Birdman

Reminds me of when I was driving my '86 CJ-7 (Jeep) with 35" tires on some back country roads when the power steering belt came off...got a good workout on the way home, that's for sure! lol

Jim Shea

1972 power steering pumps were held on the pump shaft with a nut and 1/8 x 1/2 woodruff key. The GM pulley design was not changed until 1975 to the pressed-on interference fit system.

Looks like the nut was not tightened sufficiently and the pulley worked loose. The torque spec is 60 ft-lbs for the pulley nut.

Jim

behardt91

Listen to Jim. I have a 79, not a 72. So yours is probably not pressed on as I assumed before.

72-LT1

The pulley is definitely loose on the shaft. I can’t tell if the shaft is wobbly though. I will get the pump off this weekend.

I didn’t think I pressed on the pulley, I thought I remember a keyway. I can’t figure out how the nut would have came loose and I tried twisting it by hand and it does not seem loose. I guess I will find out when I get it off.

Thanks for the answers. I think the pump is original, if it is and is bad I will want to get it rebuilt. What suggestions are out there as far as someone to rebuild it?

Thanks

lionelhutz

If you have to, just pul it apart yourself. There's really not much too them. You could find another pump and just swap the housing or even some pump parts. You take the pressure fitting and the 0ther studs or bolts out of the back and then the pump part pulls out of the resevoir. The pump itself is pretty easy to take apart.

If you need parts then almost any pump with a bolted-on pulley would work as a donor.

Peter

Jim Shea

You really don't want to slap any old Saginaw pump into your Vette. Corvette pumps were limited to 950 psi maximum pressure. The small 1/4 inch ID hoses just aren't durable at higher pressures. Almost all other GM power steering systems were in the 1450 psi range. The slider valve (just behind the discharge fitting) controls the maximum relief pressure that the pump can develop.

Jim

lionelhutz

So, you could use parts from another pump as long as you make sure you use the original valve from the stock pump?

Peter