MomoJeep
Basic User
- City
- Seattle
- State
- WA
Hey Guys!
I'm writing about this in hopes it may be useful to someone else in the future. This seems to be to be an unusual and unexpected situation. I put in a new steering box (Lares) to get rid of the slop in the 20+ year old box. It worked, however shortly thereafter there was this weird "honking/groaning" sound, mostly when I turned left, and when things were warmed up. I checked "everything"... new tie rod ends, new steering column bushings/bearings, steering shaft was good, pitman arm and steering box mounts were good. I removed the tie rods and drag link and even checked the turning torque on the ball joints. Fulshed out and replaced and bled the fluid (a second time).. Everything was good!
There was no noise coming from the pump (they usually get noisy when they fail). And when this noise would happen, if you put your hand on the steering box, it was pretty clear that the vibration was originating from the box. Could I have gotten TWO bad boxes in a row!?!?
Then something occurred to me. Even though pump was not noisy, or leaking, or anything else... it was very old. What if it just wasn't sending enough pressure to the box? Could that cause the box to vibrate... and the answer is...YES!!!
I replaced the pump and it is SO NICE to turn the wheel now without the annoying vibration!! Even got a crack in the front cross member despite having MORE frame reinforcements and a steering box brace. I blame it on the 2-3 years of vibration! Just welded it up the other day..
CONCLUSION: an old/bad PS pump can be totally quiet and otherwise appear to be fine, but if not supplying enough pressure (or flow) to the steering box, the box will vibrate and groan..
I'm writing about this in hopes it may be useful to someone else in the future. This seems to be to be an unusual and unexpected situation. I put in a new steering box (Lares) to get rid of the slop in the 20+ year old box. It worked, however shortly thereafter there was this weird "honking/groaning" sound, mostly when I turned left, and when things were warmed up. I checked "everything"... new tie rod ends, new steering column bushings/bearings, steering shaft was good, pitman arm and steering box mounts were good. I removed the tie rods and drag link and even checked the turning torque on the ball joints. Fulshed out and replaced and bled the fluid (a second time).. Everything was good!
There was no noise coming from the pump (they usually get noisy when they fail). And when this noise would happen, if you put your hand on the steering box, it was pretty clear that the vibration was originating from the box. Could I have gotten TWO bad boxes in a row!?!?
Then something occurred to me. Even though pump was not noisy, or leaking, or anything else... it was very old. What if it just wasn't sending enough pressure to the box? Could that cause the box to vibrate... and the answer is...YES!!!
I replaced the pump and it is SO NICE to turn the wheel now without the annoying vibration!! Even got a crack in the front cross member despite having MORE frame reinforcements and a steering box brace. I blame it on the 2-3 years of vibration! Just welded it up the other day..
CONCLUSION: an old/bad PS pump can be totally quiet and otherwise appear to be fine, but if not supplying enough pressure (or flow) to the steering box, the box will vibrate and groan..
