Power Steering

[Jeff w Ashworth]

Do any of you all have problems with your power steering, works good while driving but when you slow down and go to turn or backup it makes noise and hard to turn, if you have had this problem and fixed what was your fix, thanks.

 

[Shorty81]

Make sure your belt is tight, check fluid level, confirm belt alignment.

 

[Shorty81]

Oh, and welcome from the Buckeye State.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

I would say that it's belt tension. Or a wore out belt, or both.

 

[Backfoot100]

Power steering pump. I had the same problem. At idle you had "Armstrong" steering. Had to use left foot to brake and right foot to keep the RPM a little above idle and the pump worked fine. Tried belts and fluid swap. I got a rebuilt pump from Napa two years ago and been working perfect since then.

 

[Jeff w Ashworth]

put a serpentine set up on it and a new belt at that time

 

[nujac]

I have own Square body pickups and Suburbans since they were new. Most have had this problem. It is most noticeable if you back up a lot of trailers. A new V belt and proper tension would fix it for a while. However it did not take long before the noise would come back. Even without the noise these power steering pumps do not put out enough at idle to make turning easy. The alternator belts squeal as well which makes thing worst. When the serpentine belts came out it was no longer a problem. I agree with install a serpentine belt on you 84 GMC and your problems will go away. If you use the brackets off a TBI engine you may be short one head threaded bolt on the passenger side of the engine. If you run AC you will want to tread the head if it has enough meat for it. Everything else should bolt right up. With this swap you will get a higher output alternator that will give you the correct voltage as soon as it starts up. The head lights will also most likely be a little brighter and run better at idle. If you pull a TBI system off it should cost about $50 to $100. Be sure to take pictures of everything because GM added a lot of extra steel brackets to stiffen up the cast aluminum brackets. You will need a backwards fan off the TBI engine and just buy a brand new water pump. I know this reply is long already but if you are driving an old square body the odds are your AC does not work. This will provide you with a newer type compressor in the event you ever want to have a cool cab again. To make a long reply longer even longer old square bodies never had big enough wires for the charging system. This mod will force you to upgrade cables and like magic your car lights will be brighter and your wind shield wipers will now get out of the slow poke mode. To sum this up no you are not crazy, backing up the problem is worst mostly because you are just idling. Switch over to serpentine belt it will be a hassle to install but so worth it. Oh what the heck this rely could be just a little longer. If you have a standard then backing up your problem is even worst. You do not have enough feet to operate the gas peddle, the brake, and the clutch all at the same time so your power steering pump will be turning way too slow.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

I've never had a problem with any of mine, they squeal at full lock but that's it, that's just the pump whining too, not the belts. Doesn't matter if the idle is 300 rpm, never had a problem if the belts and pulleys were in good condition, and belts properly tensioned.

Definitely haven't had problems with alternator belts. V belts were used for almost 100 years.. low fluid, and dirty/aerated fluid can cause issues as well.

 

[Raider L]

@Jeff w Ashworth,

I agree with @PrairieDrifter, I've never had any problems with any of my accessories, and no problems with "V" belts either. That's all you need to do is make sure your power steering system is in good working order and belts are adjusted correctly. If it's still making noise then the pump is going. These things are so simple there's just not to much that can go wrong. It's either one thing or another and nothing weird or complicated.

 

[Raider L]

@PrairieDrifter,

Now, today I was over at the shop that's going to straighten my frame and I took the opportunity to open the hood and look at the shifter rod from Lokar that the transmission shop just put in. It looks great, but that's not the problem. The problem is the power hose that comes from the power steering pump and goes on my steering box is leaking at the top of the gear box. I tried to tighten it up here recently before I sent it off for all the big fixes, and I see it's still leaking at that hose fitting.

So what would be the problem with the hose? I've not ever had that problem before and haven't been driving the truck for months. So if I'm not driving it what could cause it to have a leak there? I wiped it off some time ago when I first noticed the leak and it IS coming from the top of the gear box where the hose screws into the port. I can't recall but is there a 'o' ring on that line that may have gone bad? Or what?

 

[ali_c20]

I lowered my idle to 500rpm cause I like it when it's really low and sounds kinda rough. With this low idle it takes a little more effort to turn the steering wheel. With idle from 600 rpm and up there is no difference to normal driving conditions. The noise is what would concern me. A new pump and belt should solve the problem.

 

[ali_c20]

@PrairieDrifter,

Now, today I was over at the shop that's going to straighten my frame and I took the opportunity to open the hood and look at the shifter rod from Lokar that the transmission shop just put in. It looks great, but that's not the problem. The problem is the power hose that comes from the power steering pump and goes on my steering box is leaking at the top of the gear box. I tried to tighten it up here recently before I sent it off for all the big fixes, and I see it's still leaking at that hose fitting.

So what would be the problem with the hose? I've not ever had that problem before and haven't been driving the truck for months. So if I'm not driving it what could cause it to have a leak there? I wiped it off some time ago when I first noticed the leak and it IS coming from the top of the gear box where the hose screws into the port. I can't recall but is there a 'o' ring on that line that may have gone bad? Or what?

Is it a stock gear box or after market ?

 

[PrairieDrifter]

@PrairieDrifter,

Now, today I was over at the shop that's going to straighten my frame and I took the opportunity to open the hood and look at the shifter rod from Lokar that the transmission shop just put in. It looks great, but that's not the problem. The problem is the power hose that comes from the power steering pump and goes on my steering box is leaking at the top of the gear box. I tried to tighten it up here recently before I sent it off for all the big fixes, and I see it's still leaking at that hose fitting.

So what would be the problem with the hose? I've not ever had that problem before and haven't been driving the truck for months. So if I'm not driving it what could cause it to have a leak there? I wiped it off some time ago when I first noticed the leak and it IS coming from the top of the gear box where the hose screws into the port. I can't recall but is there a 'o' ring on that line that may have gone bad? Or what?

Is it a new hose or been messed with? It is possible the o-ring has failed, that would be the easiest thing to replace so why not try it? Did you get the box reworked, or a new one? Check for these small defects, it's not uncommon for an o-ring to get torn, I usually lube up all the o-rings I install with whatever fluid they're for, or o-ring lube.

I had an oreillys fuel pump, right out the box, not o-ring fitting but, it had a small defect on the sealing surface of the pump that the line connects to. Immediately with the first bit of gas through it, it's actually pissing it out, after I removed it and inspected, I saw this defect. It was very small and hard to notice, but caused one hell of a leak.

I'd say if you haven't touched that hose for a long time and it started leaking, the o-ring most likely failed, if the leak gets worse after you've tightened it, it will most likely be the o-ring.

 

[Jeff w Ashworth]

when we put the Serpentine set up it is on a 97 vortex 350, aluminum intake, edelbrock carb., and HEI distributor, it was a used pump so I will get a new pump and see what happens