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I'm trying to resolve a problem with the routing of the high-pressure hose from the pump to the control valve. The AIM indicates that the hard line from the back of the pump should be positioned at an 80* angle as shown below:
The trouble is that the orientation of the return hose fitting on the pump makes this impossible. It can't swing the pressure hose more than about 45* before it collides with the return hose:
A second pump, that I removed from the car some years ago, seems to have its return hose fitting oriented similarly:
The result of this is that the high-pressure hose gets jammed up against itself and forced into too-tight bends where it enters the hardline crimps at each end when the steering is driven to the end of its travel. It is now leaking as a result.
Has anyone else encountered this situation, and found a solution? I have no confidence that ordering a new pump will yield one that's any different than these two.
Can you loosen the high pressure hose at the pump and rotate it clockwise to give the return hose a bit more room?
Thanks for the reply, Leif.
Yes, I can do as you suggest, but that's the opposite of what needs to happen. The pressure hose needs to rotate farther counter-clockwise, but the orientation of the fitting for the return hose places the return hose such that it prevents any further rotation of the pressure hose. The image in the AIM seems to indicate that the fitting for that return hose should be angled more counter-clockwise than it is on either of the two pumps I have here. That would provide clearance to situate the pressure hose at roughly the 80* position that's called for in the AIM.
The photos I posted above were taken with the wheels straight forward, so the problem isn't so obvious in those pics. When the drag link runs to the limit of its travel in a left-hand turn, the pressure hose collides with itself as it exits the two crimped connections.
I'm thinking that a replacement pump is the only viable solution, but it will need to be one that has the return fitting oriented differently than it is on the two pumps I have. I thought I'd post the problem here, to see if the brain trust might have some useful insights that have so far eluded me.
I may be misremembering. It may the the pressure hose that's different on the big block. You should also go to a site like Summit Racing and search for something like "GM Power Steering Pump Reservoirs" and you'll find many flavors. Your pump looks like a Saginaw and it's easy to swap reservoirs on them. If you've never done it, remove the pressure regulator valle fitting in the back where the pressure line attaches and then the two studs. A few light taps and it comes right off.
Last edited by acstephenson; Yesterday at 11:00 PM.
Power steering hose routing help?
