I'll give you all the information up to now, so this may take a minute.... I installed a remanufactured power steering pump on an 08 ram 2500, 6.7 Cummins for a guy last weekend. His complaint was that it would squeal once it was warmed up. I managed to get a reman unit but it had a small crack in the back housing. When I tried to get another one I found out that there are NONE available. I pulled the back cover from my core, and it was an exact match, bushing was good and gasket was in great shape. His fluid was very dirty, but not out of controll. I installed the mostly new pump and it worked fine, no leaks, no noise. He drove the truck about 400 miles, towing. Once he returned home this weekend he backed his trailer into his driveway and the truck wouldn't turn left? I went over to his house and looked in the P/S res and it was BLACK and had metal in it.
My first thought was that I had really messed up by putting the old backing plate on the pump. So, off it came and I tore it down. Vanes were perfect, no indication of any scratches in the case, and the shaft was tight. Reinstall the pump and flushed the system completely! With the vehicle on jack stands it turns to the right perfectly, but has some resistance to the left. I double checked the fluid, looks brand new now, set the truck on the ground and it wont turn left! He also told me that his brake pedal bucked when the steering stoped working. After the flush his pedal returned to normal, but couldn't really test it becasue I wont let him drive it.
I've (in my mind) eliminated the pump being the source of contamination, but I'm open to ideas there too. What moving parts could send that much metal into the system? Gearbox is my guess, but I'm not that familiar with the hydroboost system...It took two gallons of new atf+4 to get the fluid back to normal.
I've shut the guy down, and I feel terrible about it. He has to work for a living just like me. Any ideas what to check for? I'm about to go back over there with a fresh perspective.
Sorry for the long post.

 

Ohh, just a side note. Dodge can now get a P/S unit for that truck. $550 for the pump, 170 for the resivior, and 15 for a new bracket. Napa,Autozone,Carquest,Advanced,and Oreilys can not get the old style pumps.

 

Judging by your description I would have to think that something in the gearbox came apart.

 

Done! Ordered a gearbox (carquest was the only one that had one available) and it was here at 4:30. Got it all together, and its all good.

 

My 99 dodge diesel is very hard to steer and the brakes don't work well either. This problem has been getting worse over time. Truck is not usuable at this point. Checked the fluid after running the truck for a few minutes and it was foamy and overflowed the pump. Bought a new pump but I gather that I should flush (maybe backflush it too?)the system and check the lines before install the new pump. What is the best way to flush the system and/or back flush the lines? Isn't there an inline filter in one of the lines? Which line is it installed in typically?