Devinraptor

It seems like since my truck hit 100,000 miles its falling apart. In the last 5,000 miles I have replaced 2 u joints, ball joints, water pump, another coolant leak and some other little crap. Anyways over the past week or so my truck has been getting progressively harder and harder to turn the wheel. But its not all the time sometimes it acts normal and then its like it just quits and its all on me. Could my power steering pump be going?

Devinraptor

Any Ideas??

SuperGewl

$1200 dollars worth of Power Steering pump, installed at your local Ram dealer. After they install it make sure you get a Steering box Support installed. Oh yeah mine only lasted about 100k also. The SBS runs ~$180-$240, I had someone else install it because it was going to cost me more to get big enough wrenches than it cost to get it installed.

N.Johnson

Whats the fluid level, type used or has it ever been drained and replaced. Any leaks. Could be the pump or steering box or both. Have you ever replaced the belt?

Dr.Dizzle

Hi Devinraptor,

The issue you are experiencing may be due to condensation or compromised fluid in the power steering reservoir. I recommend you remove and replace the fluid in the reservoir prior to going through the expense of pump replacement. This can be accomplished by drawing the fluid from the pump with a turkey baster. You can also use a pump from an empty bottle of hand soap or shampoo to remove the fluid.

Once you have removed as much of the fluid as possible, refill the power steering pump with ATF+4 automatic transmission fluid. The correct fluid for third gen trucks is ATF+4.

Devinraptor

Thank you for your responses.

Thank you Dr. Dizzle for the alternative, hope that this will work I did as you said and I removed the old and replaced with new. The fluid I took out was pretty dark, there was definitely a difference in colors between the new and old.

In order to answer other questions, yes this is the original fluid, I don't think I have any leaks the fluid level is always perfect and I'm still on the same belt.

Thank you

Dr.Dizzle

If you find that this method has improved the steering performance, I suggest you perform the fluid replacement process again after driving a few days. At this point you have replaced the fluid in the pump;however, the old fluid in the lines and steering components will circulate and discolor the new fluid. Performing this process a few more times will clear up the fluid considerably.

N.Johnson

Here's how I change the fluid. Get the front axle on jack stands with the rear wheels chocked. Pull the two lines going to the cooler and let the old fluid drain completely. Connect them up and fill the pump with atf4. Start truck and turn wheel stop to stop. Shutdown and top up the reservoir. Repeat till level remains on the mark. Sucking old fluid out doesn't get all the crude (gearbox metal crude) out of the cooler and lines. Last is pull apart the cap carefully and trim the rubber nipple under the dip stick part so the system won't build pressure in the reservoir. If you got a vacuum bleeder you can leave the truck on the ground and purge the air from the system. Got me motivated to do it this weekend, has been two years!