Power Steering Pump Pulley Installation
Before I installed the pulley I tried to find information on whether
to lubricate the power steering pump shaft to facilitate the pulley
installation.
I found no mention of using a lubricant in the pump instructions or my
repair manuals so I tried to do the installation without a lubricant.
After my experience with this installation I would definitely
lubricate the pump shaft before attempting pulley installation.
Here is the pulley installation / removal tool configured as pulley installer.
Top of Photo: The pulley installer tool I used to install the pulley. Bottom of Photo: The installation tool included with the rebuilt power steering pump.
To install the pulley I used a breaker bar to hold the jackscrew
stationary, a wrench to turn the puller body and a wood dowel to hold
the pulley from turning.
I slid the dowel through a hole in the pulley and had one end of the
dowel on top of the pump and the other end was held in place with a
couple of leather welding gloves on the fender well.
NOTE: If you hold the jack screw and
allow the pulley to rotate while your tightening the puller body, the
installation tool installer screw will unthread from the pump shaft or
the jack screw.
If you hold the pulley and not the jackscrew while tightening the
puller body you will likely twist and break off the installer screw in
the pump shaft.
I began installing the original pulley on the rebuilt pump. It
required a lot of force to install and the pulley would hit sticking
points. I would have to use additional force and it would pop and then
I could continue pressing it on a little further till I hit the next
sticking point. The installation force became greater the further the
pulley was installed.
I had the pulley almost all the way on the shaft and the installer
screw broke.
To remove the broken installer screw that was threaded into the pump shaft I used a couple drops of super glue gel on the center of the end of the broken installer screw and than I held the broken part in place for about a minute to let it set than I waited at least ten minutes or more before trying removing the broken installer screw. I was careful to keep the glue away from the threads.
Well at this point I was hitting a wall. The force to install the pulley was just too great and not wanting to break another installer screw I decided to remove the pulley so I could lubricate the shaft and try again.The force required to remove the pulley was so great the flange broke off the pulley.
Tool from my pulley remover / installer set configured as pulley remover. The split jaws are assembled around the pulley flange and the sleeve is used to hold the jaws together.
To remove the pulley I decided to try my Craftsman hobby tool because it is small and can get into tight spaces.
NOTE: When cutting the pulley you obviously need safety glasses and I quickly found out that I also needed to wear a respirator and ventilate the work area. My cutoff wheel was creating black plastic floating particles.
I made slices through the pulley so I could remove a section of it
and get access to the center steel band.
Then I started cutting into the center steel band of the pulley
periodically trying to split the band by inserting a large screw
driver and twisting it.
Well by the time I got the pulley off the pump I had cut slightly into the shaft which didn't bother me too much because I wasn't really comfortable using the pump after putting so much torque on it trying to get the pulley on and then back off again.
Well after all of the above I removed and installed another pump. Now back to installing a pulley.
Now starting with a new pulley I oiled the shaft and began the installation pressing the pulley on until I would hit a sticking point that I couldn't pass without using excessive force.
Than I removed the pulley and used a fine polishing paper inside the pulley hole smoothing the inner surface and removing a minute amount of metal. I then cleaned and oiled the pulley repeating this process until I was able to fully install the pulley.
New power steering pulley installed.
Well everything is back together and it's time to top up the reservoir with power steering fluid!
My user manual specifies Mercon ATF for the power steering fluid but I used Mercon V because it is the replacement for the older Mercon specification.
To prime the power steering pump, the replacement pump instructions
suggest removing the fuel pump relay to prevent the engine from
starting while cranking it.
If you are planning on using this method you should remove the relay
and run the engine to depressurize the fuel system before you begin
working on the car otherwise the engine will probably start when you
crank it anyway.
On start up the air was all rapidly purged from the system and turning the wheels back and forth per the instructions did not seem to purge any additional air from the system.
No leaks, or strange noises, and the steering works.
Job Complete. Yea!!!