Power steering

[ryanPSD]

Well, from reading TDS in the past I found out some people have had their power steering hoses blow out and a number have been keeping spares on hand. So, getting paranoid I bought one, about two years ago now, and kept it in my toolbox since.

And so about 4:45 this evening I did a u-turn to get to the local gun shop (just bought a Savage 93R17-GLV by the way, I can't wait!) and coming out of the turn my steering was real hard, luckily the gun shop was a block away so I pulled up to a stop in front of the store. Lo and behold, there was a puddle of either cranberry juice or power steering fluid (I was guessing the latter) under the truck, I popped the hood and the hose blew out of the upper fitting, and I had a brand new hose! Woohoo! What a mess though...

A call to my father to pick up and bring me some ATF, a couple small crescent wrenches, oily hands and about an hour later I had the pump topped off with it making no more noise and I was back on the road.


Moral of the story: if you haven't popped one yet, might be worth keeping a spare. :)

I will probably flush it now (need to figure out how, never done so yet), I am sure it needs it anyways. I have always kept a small eye on the level and it has never dropped, but as far as I know it is the original fluid.

[Samuel1941]

I will probably flush it now...

Ryan........
Sounds like you already did!!

...there was a puddle of either cranberry juice or power steering fluid...

[weweld]

Sheryl was driving my F450 when it popped a steering hose and she had a heck of a time trying to turn it and stop it , luckily she wasn't going very fast at the time.

[ryanPSD]

Ryan........
Sounds like you already did!!

Oh... I should have mentioned. I believe the capacity is around two quarts, mine took almost a full quart (bought three) so there was still some existing fluid in there. Can't hurt to flush it though. :)

Yeah Gene I bet that could be scary at the wrong time. Luckily I had to only pull up to the side of the road in front of the shop to stop. I had to do the wrenching for the lower fitting from the wheel well so I was only a couple feet from the traffic though.

[Baja_Traveler]

I blew a hose about a year ago - actually it did not blow completely, but developed a severe leak at the crimp fitting. Removed all the hoses from the pump and brought them to Hose Pros in San Diego for a better quality replacement. They custom made a top end replacement while I waited and it cost less than the OEM part. In talking with the guy he said he sees these hoses blown all the time...

[brian213]

My pump blew out, or the pulley simply came off (not sure which happened first), but it sure did make turning difficult...I had my trailer on the back, so very glad it happened just before I was turning left onto the street before the on-ramp. Of course it took me hours to replace the darn thing, but it works great now....will take a look at the hoses. :)

>1/4 million miles and runs pretty well...


-Brian