Anyone had a power steering pump pulley move toward the pump body?

[ranger7ltr]

I replaced the power steering pump a couple of weeks ago and used the old pulley...After dealing with a squealing belt for a while i replaced the pulley and the belt...My squaek went away for 1 day...

Now the new pulley is moving toward the engine and misaligning the belt...removing and reinstalling either pulley is not that hard... And I am wondering why it is soo easy to install a new pulley on a new pump...

I am at the point of using Loctite blue on the damn thing...Serpentine belts are not cheap for this vehicles...

It is a 99 Explorer Sport OHV 4. 0 liter...ANY ideas would be appreciated...

 

[ranger7ltr]

My own update...

This started with a leaking power steering pump and me buying an aftermarket rebuild unit... The first one worked fine but the pump squealed while driving and I replaced it with another aftermarket unit...

The next one was a little noisier than the first one but it seemed to work well...Well for a few days and then the pulley started moving up the pump shaft toward the pump body and tearing up belts...The pulley would stay in place for about 40-60 miles and then it would start moving and misalign itself...

So back to the store and they got me a Ford pump...They even priced matched and ate the cost...This pump lasted 4 days and 2 serpentine belts...I went to the local Ford dealership parts house and talked with their parts counter guys who I known for 30+ years...They told me something to look for I was not aware of...

" The pumps that they sell to parts houses are rebuilds that pass Fords' specs but in some cases the pump shafts are not the correct diameter and the pulley will move on the shaft thanks to no interference fit"...WTF????

So I pull out my calipers and start to measure stuff...The pulley hub diameter is .685" nominal...There is a .002 variance but not a great difference... So the pump shaft should be the same diameter or larger...I found my pumps shaft diameter to be .655"...No wonder that pulley would not stay in place and the installer had very little resistance going onto the pump or coming off the pump...

So I measured 4 Ford pumps at the parts house and all failed the shaft diameter...One was .645", two were .650" and the last one was .655" like mine...So I went back to the parts store and was determined to find one in their stock to work...Or get my old pump back and deal with the leaking fluid...

They pulled their stock of 2 pumps with reservoir and 6 w/o reservoir...Every one w/o the reservoir were at least .685" to .690"... Only one with the reservoir was .685"...The other one was .650"...I installed the bigger diameter pump on my truck at the store and drove almost 200 miles and it is staying in place so far and not a squeal or torn-up belt yet...

This simple task of changing a leaky PS pump has become a major ordeal that was pissing me off and making me think of just buying a new vehicle and letting the dealership worry with maintenance...But I am too stubborn to do that...Besides I have to know why my vehicles work the way they do...But good and bad...

 

[Brewdevil]

tearing up serp belts

Resurrecting this old thread, thanks to the OP for posting this. I've got a 2000 F150 that I replaced the PS Pump in a while back. Originally it started squealing like a banshee so I adjusted the pulley and the noise went away. Thats when the fun started. I started tearing up serp belts. I adjusted the pulley again and a month or so later I would tear up another belt. 2 tensioners, 4 belts and an idler pulley later I was ready to sell my rig. I'd asked several mechanics and they assured me that the pulley cannot move on its own along the shaft. So back to the drawing board I adjusted the pulley and everything looked good. Drove it for a bit and it was still good, next morning I started it up and the belt was riding the inside of the crank again, readjusted the pulley same thing good to go that day next morning its riding on the crank pulley again! I came across this thread and now I feel like I have a solution. I'll be replacing the pump and checking the shaft diameter at the shop. Thanks again!