i noticed a small oil drip under my truck this evening while it was idling in the driveway. i crawled up under it and the best i can tell its coming from the small pump that mounts behind the gear housing, and in front of the power steering resevoir. is this the vacuum pump? the best i can tell from the haynes repair manual you can pull it pretty easily. is there an oil feed line from the engine to the pump that could maybe be a little loose, or maybe a seal or o-ring that could be the culprit? thanks for any input

 

Do yourself a favor and pull the PS pump and vacuum pump out as one unit. It also makes it easier to repair and re-install. This is a common problem and you can buy a seal kit for the vacuum pump at any cummins dealer (they might have to order it). I think I paid around $10 for my kit. IIRC, if you pull it out as one unit, there are only 3-4 bolts and an oil line that will need to be removed. Also, there is a nut on the PS pump that you will have to take off because theres a brace on that bolt. The kit comes with pictures and instructions so its a pretty straight forward job just be careful when you mate the PS pump to the vacuum pump not to mess up the seal. Good luck.

 

I bought one of these. http://www.genosgarage.com/prodinfo....OULD_VPRK_9602 The video, seal drivers and all parts are included which is nice, so you don't have to go looking for stuff to drive the seals out.

Make sure you wash the area really well before hand. Makes working on stuff much easier. Not that hard to do, but much easier with 2 people.

 

Cummins seal kit 4089742 is under $10 at your local cummins parts house and has everything you need including instructions. You can use a 1" and 1 1/4" sockets to press the seal in and out. Pull the drivers side intercooler tube out and take the vaccum pump and power steering unit out as a unit. Make sure and pay attention to the direction of the seal when you remove it, it's hard to see in the pictures how it goes in. The seal housing can be a pain to re-install and get seated, I used a seal driver to press it back into place. Probably a 4 hour job your first time.

 

www.fixinrams.com has everything you need including tools to install the seals

 

I have talked to many people (dealers/mechanic's/Napa...) and the consensus is to not use the original replacement seal from Cummins. About half of the replaced seals still leak due to the old seal sometimes making a groove in the shaft. With the new OEM seal installed on those shafts that have a grove worn in them they will leak after about a month.

Peter Gould at www.fixinrams.com/ makes a rebuild kit with a dual lip seal for $59. This dual lip seal rests on the shaft on both sides of where the old one would contact the shaft. So even if you did wear a grove in the old shaft the new seal comes into contact with the shaft on both sides of where the old seal did.

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me it's not about if the seal costs $10 or $100, it's the amount of time it takes to clean the area of oil/grease..., take it apart, replace the bearings, & putting it all back together. I like to think that I would only have to do this repair once.

 

SO glad you bumped this thread BirdMan50. I just found my PS pump leaking today and was going to start a new thread asking what I should do with it. Here is a photo of mine if anyone can help me with diagnosis or suggestions, I would REALLY appreciate it!!

 

the consensus is wrong....sorry, the seal from cummins is a double lip seal negating the groove. did mine 2 years ago for $8.50 no need for an overpriced "kit". it is a pita job however.

 

Agree.

 

Who ever fed you that info is full of it OR they are basing it off old style seals
The new seal (kit) has a double lip. Mine was replaced with a cummins seal likely 2yrs ago (2000hrs of run time) and NO leaks todate!

As for removing it as an assy, its the only way to go, I'd add that instead of removing the Hi-pressure lines down near the pump you remove them up near the M/Cylinder hydroboost area instead, there is little to no room to swing wrenches around the PS pump, took me 15mins to pull the Vacuum/PS pump as an assy,

 

I just did this the other day. I used the kit from fixinrams.com. It might ahve been a little over priced but I got 2 of everything. The DVD was very helpful. The first time I put it back in (it's a law I have to do everything twice) I had the seal retainer "O" ring pinched or something. I called Peter Gould up he told me what I did wrong. So back out it came. The second time was way quicker. I think it might have taken 2 hours. No leaks at all!

 

Im looseing 1qt every 1,000 miles with oil all over my parking spot- I think im going to just make a weekend of this and also do the KDP, lukes links and the starter contacts all at once.

 

Just did mine last weekend. As stated do yourself a favor and remove both as a unit then seperate them on the bench. I did use the Gould kit. A double lip seal wherever it comes from is the type to use as my shaft did have a groove in it. It was a pita but not too bad. The gould kit does come with two of everything which is nice and the dvd which is also nice but the cummins seal sounds like it would work fine.

 

the only problem i had was the power steering return line, so i cut it ......end of problem

 

I just did my vac pump. Got the kit from Gould Gear and Elecetric came with video and drivers also extra o rings just in case.