threading the power steering pressure hose into the pump

[LMHmedchem]

Hello,

Well I just spent literally 3 hours trying to get the installation of my power steering pump completed. I have the pump installed on the bracket with the lower bolt and upper two studs attached. The two ground wires are installed over the studs with M8 flange nuts. The bracket is mounted to the stud nearer to the middle of the engine with another ground on that stud. The reservoir is attached to the bracket and the large hose from the reservoir is connected to the pump. All that remains is the attach the pressure hose to the pump. No matter how many hours I spent trying, I just can't get the threads to catch.

Just to review, I test fit everything before I started. The male fitting on the pressure hose does thread into the pump and I verified the direction I have to turn the fitting to tighten it. I have tried from the engine bay, from underneath, and from the drivers wheel well and I just can't get it connected. Some of the issue is that it is hard to hold the fitting in place and turn it at the same time, which is sort of a necessary combination of actions. I found that using a small crescent wrench was the best option as both my 18mm box wrench and 18mm line wrench are too big to maneuver in the space and won't be helpful for anything but a final tightening.

To say that this is a stupid design is an understatement, but I assume that everyone who has worked on this already knows that. To put one of the mount bolts and the pressure hose fitting in exactly the same spot is unbelievably idiotic, even for auto engineers. That doesn't even address the 20-25 minutes that are required to press off the pulley, so you can remove the pressure hose, so you can remove the mount bolt. There isn't enough room on a huge v8 engine to have these components distant enough that you can work on them separately?

I tried to slide the lower mount bolt into the pump, connect the hose, and then get the bracket mounted. That doesn't work either, there just isn't room to turn the bolt and get it into the engine. I have unbolted all of the hose brackets to that I have plenty of slack to work with.

I just got too tired to keep going so I will try again tomorrow. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

LMHmedchem

 

[BKennedy]

Remove all the attachments and start over at the end you can't get to line up. Mount the hose to the pump and box before you mount the brackets.

 

[LMHmedchem]

Remove all the attachments and start over at the end you can't get to line up. Mount the hose to the pump and box before you mount the brackets.

I tried that already. I do have all of the brackets off of the body and have also removed the oil filter drip pan for more space.

There is no way to mount the bolt that is under the hose with the hose attached. This is what I was saying about poor design. You could position the outlet port anywhere around the circle of the pump, so to have it placed exactly over one of the mount bolts is idiotic. You should be able to connect the pressure hose before you mount the pump, as you suggest, and then mount the pump to the engine with the hose attached.

I can place the lower forward bolt into the pump and then attach the hose. I can then get the bolt into the engine block and connect the bracket. After that, there is no room to use a wrench and turn the bolt to tighten it. Just to note, the only reason I can even get this far is that I have replace the stud that the bracket mounts to with a threaded rod and some fender washers. I can insert the rod after the bracket is in place. If I used a regular stud, there is no way to get the bolt into the engine block and then get the bracket over the stud. It is close, but it can't be done.

The problem is that it is very difficult to orient the male fitting into the port. If it is not perfectly flush, the threads won't catch. It is also necessary to apply some pressure to the back of the fitting to get it to start. This is very difficult to accomplish down in the engine bay. Again, there should be a receiver tube outside the female fitting the is the same diameter as the male fitting outside the threads. This would force the male fitting into alignment and keep it there while fitting is turned to catch the threads. The receiver would only need to be about 1 cm long. The rigid hose doesn't make things easier but removing the brackets gives me enough slack to test thread the hose into the old pump sitting up on the engine.

I think that I may be able to hold the fitting in place from underneath where I can see the port and keep things aligned. I will not be able to turn the fitting from that position so I will need some help. If that doesn't work, I will order a low profile bolt with a ~5mm tall hex head. That may allow enough room to get a wrench in to tighten the bolt and attach it in the method you suggest.

It is just ridiculous that it is this difficult to attache a hose to a threaded hose. Possibly this would be easier if I had the truck up on a lift where I could have easier access from underneath. That is as far as I will go in terms of giving the design a pass.

LMHmedchem

 

[LMHmedchem]

Well I finally managed to finish this today.

As BKennedy suggested, I disconnected the upper piece of the pressure hose from the lower half to allow for more maneuverability. I also spend a while lying under the truck where I could see the port and held the fitting in what looked like the correct orientation while someone else tried to screw it in from the engine bay side. None of this worked. I just couldn't get the threads to catch.

I ended up removing all the bolts and taking the pump and bracket back off of the engine block. With the pump up on the hood, I was able to get the fitting threaded, as I was when I test fit the parts. I decided that with the hose disconnected at one end, I should be able to rotate it and get it out of the way enough to turn the bolt with a box wrench. I placed the bolt into the pump and just left it floating there. I then inserted the fitting and got it threaded. It took allot more effort to get it started than it did to put the same hose into the old pump. You really had to push on the back of the fitting to get it to go in. I can only conclude that it was not well made since it was very easy to get the hose into the old pump.

Once I had the fitting threaded and in a bit, I applied some high temp silicone thread sealant and screwed it the rest of the way in. I didn't tighten it very much at that point. I then set the bracket and pump down into the engine bay and guided the bolt into the correct socket. It helps to have someone who can hold the bracket so you can have both hands to get it lined up and get the bolt started. If you push the bolt into the socket until it hits the threads, but leave the pump a bit away from the engine block, there is some room between the metal hose and the bolt head to get a box wrench in. You may even be able to get a box ratchet in there. I couldn't find one of the right size so I couldn't try that. Once I got the bolt started, it was just 20 minutes with the box wrench to get it tightened up. After the bolt was part way in, I could use the closed end of the wrench and it went faster. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

The top of the pump bracket is secured to the engine block with an M8 stud. The stud goes into the block and has a 14mm hex spacer that you use to drive the stud in. A ground wire then goes over the stud and the pump bracket goes over top. An M8 flange nut secures the bracket. You cannot use this setup with the method that I used because you cannot get the pump bracket over the stud once the lower bolt has been started into its socket. It's close, but it doesn't go on. Maybe someone else can figure out how to do it but I quit and replaced the stud with an 85mm M8-1.25 bolt like the lower mount bolts for the pump. I added 3 fender washers between the block and the bracket to account for the spacer on the stud. The order goes, ground wire, 3 fender washers, pump bracket, bolt, in that order. This bolt helps hold part of the engine together so it is important that it is driven all the way in until you can see the tip coming out the back of the socket. I wouldn't use a shorter bolt for this reason. I originally tried a threaded rod, but those are too difficult to thread in if there is any resistance.

After I got the lower bolt and pump bracket secured, I reconnected the upper and lower hoses. I then rotated the metal part of the upper hose up over the oil filter and secured the upper hose with the bracket the mounts to a stud next to the harmonic balancer. At this point, I finally tightened the pressure fitting with a 18mm line wrench so that it was nice and tight. I attached the bracket at the passengers side of the cross member. I jacket up the truck, removed the front drivers wheel, and attached the 2 studs and bolt that secure the pump to the engine block. Finally, I replaced to 2 ground wires over the pump studs and fixed them with 8mm flange nuts.

I still have a few things to do but I am close to being done. I found that removing the oil filter drip tray and the battery and battery tray helped to give access. It would have been nice to have the oil filter out as well but I didn't feel like draining the oil. I did not reattach the lower hose from the radiator to the oil filter adapter because I wanted the room in there. That may have been a mistake because it looks like it will be a pain to get back on. I will find out when I jack it up again tomorrow.

LMHmedchem

 

[mountaineer2004]

Congratulations! Very informative thread. All's well that ends well.

 

[BKennedy]

It seems like vehicles are getting more and more difficult to work on. I wonder if the engineers who design them have ever turned a wrench? I always thought there should be some old timer mechanic who's only job is to look over plans for new vehicles. If he finds some stupid design that makes what should be a simple job nearly impossible, he gets to kick the guy who submitted it square in the crotch.

It takes about an hour total to swap out a power steering gear box and hoses on my first gen. If I was in a hurry, I could do it in half that time.