Power Steering Warning to ALL!! and how to fix it the easy way

[C-Note]

I had a problem with my power steering locking up and after doing some research here on the site I found that my POS plastic pulley was spinning on its hub.
I have read a lot of info on here about things to look out for, or advice to new owners and had never heard of this until I had a problem myself.
Not only will this leave you stuck on the side of the road, if it locks up your steering while you are in a turn like it did to me YOU COULD CRASH!!
I got lucky, but this is a major safety hazard and I strongly suggest
that everyone fixes this problem before someone gets hurt!!
Just for you information my car is a 98 GTS with only 17K on it, I would guess that by what I have read on here that ALL of these will fail eventually.
Also I have read that many people also break the sub-standard cast power steering pump mounting bracket.

Dave’s big brakes makes a very nice looking kit with a billet aluminum pulley and billet aluminum bracket for about $200.
Roe Racing makes a great quality kit with a black steel pulley and a billet aluminum bracket for about $120.

I found an illustrated repair guide on here using the Dave’s kit, they made it look pretty difficult, and I feel did it the hard way.
Here is a link to that one.
http://forums.viperclub.org/illustr...-pulley-bracket-replacement-guide-photos.html

Here is the easy way.

First thing to do is pull of the air intake tube and the crank case ventilation tube, they will be in your way.
DO NOT remove the power steering lines!!
After that remove the three bolts that hold the pump to the bracket.
When you get done pulling the pump off you will need a good pulley puller, the following picture is of an OTC puller, they are kind of expensive but work very well.

There is plenty of room to pull the pump up where you can work on pulling the pulley with out removing the lines.

Here is the old pulley off.

After removing the Pulley you will have room to move the pump out of the way to remove the pump bracket that is bolted to the head.

At this time it is very easy to change the bracket, the new one was installed in the photo.

After installing the new pump bracket use the other part of the puller kit to install the new pulley onto the pump.
The bolt going thru the pulley screws into the shaft of the pump.

Pull the pump out of the hole it is in to install the pulley as pictured.

Bolt the pump back to the bracket and put the belt and intake hose back on and you are ready to roll

This job was done in about an hour without having to drain the power steering fluid or fighting the lines.

It has taken me about the same amount of time to upload pictures and write this post.

Let me know what you think and feel free to ask questions.

 

[Qualitywires.com]

Good job!
Nice write up!

 

[02 Graphite GTS]

Hey C-Note,
Nice write up.
Kudos to you for being able to do it the way you did ! I changed mine out a few months ago with Dave's kit ( extremely well made with absolutely no fit issues) I pulled the pump completely out as in the illustrated upgrades, tried 2 different types of pullers, and finally ended up grinding the hub down to a point where it was almost down to the shaft (keyword "almost") In my case, I can say that there was NO WAY that it was going to come off while still in the car.
I found that even the replacement pulley hub had to be heated up first to expand the bore enough to slip onto the PS pump shaft.

 

[C-Note]

Thanks guys,
I was very pleased with the Roe kit, it fit very nice.
The old pulley was very tight on there, the new pulley went on much nicer that the old one came off.

 

[C-Note]

By the way AB I took a few other pictures when I was doing this of your killer plug wires for that other post.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

These look like the stock plastic pulley. I recall Dave's pulley looking very different.

Pull the pump out of the hole it is in to install the pulley as pictured.

 

[C-Note]

Chuck,
It may look alot like the stock pulley but it is all steel, much higher quality than stock.
Dave's is billit aluminum, Roes pulley is alot like the rest of the pulleys on the car.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Chuck,
It may look alot like the stock pulley but it is all steel, much higher quality than stock.
Dave's is billit aluminum, Roes pulley is alot like the rest of the pulleys on the car.

Ok, so that's a Roe pulley? I didn't follow.

Anyways, good swap. The only thing I would add though is to go ahead and change the hoses while you're at it. The high pressure hose gets old fast from all the header heat it takes.

 

[JiPi]

The steel pulley Roe sells is a Gen1 pulley. Very similar to the Gen2.
Offset is different though, but it comes with 1/4'' spacers to correct it.

 

[C-Note]

The steel pulley Roe sells is a Gen1 pulley. Very similar to the Gen2.
Offset is different though, but it comes with 1/4'' spacers to correct it.

Yea what he said

 

[Bravo]

Good job. You inspired me to go out and install my Dave's pulley and bracket I've had sitting around.
One comment...put down some kind of tape to prevent scratching up the aluminum brace in front of the pulley even if you pull the pump, you'll bang into this a lot and can make it ugly.

 

[1994viper]

Had a scary moment today when I tried to make a turn and my steering wheel stiffed up at about a ¼ turn to the right. I pulled over and inspected the problem. The liquid seemed to be fine. No leaks. The steering wheel would become stiff just before a ¼ turn to the right, and be normal right after the wheel is turned past that point. Return of the wheel to the original location would yield the same stiffness at ¼ turn to straight. I am not sure if this might be caused by the failing pulley, or I should look elsewhere for the cause of the problem? Is there a way to re-tighten the original pulley, while I am getting a new pulley kit shipped to me?

Thank you all

 

[Tom Sessions]

you have a metal pulley on your gen 1 car.You may have a pump or steering rack going bad on you

 

[1994viper]

Thank you Tom, I guess, I'll be going to a mechanics shop tomorrow to check out the problem. The problem seems to be coming and going away, so I am not sure if they will be able to test for the issue. Are there any other telltale signs, which might give me a more definitive answer to which part is failing before I take it to a shop?

 

[eucharistos]

good write up, thanks

 

[George Murray]

Replaced the pully on my 2000 ACR 3 years ago. Used a stock one. Thus far no problem. But I did have a stiffness and buzzing sound last time on the track (last month), and a couple of ounces of PS fluid puked outta the cap vent tube. Just had a BG PS fluid flush done. Will see if that corrected the problem.

If that doesn't work, it'll be a new pump next. I understand the PS pump is the same as many Magnum V-8 PS pumps.

 

[dodgefever]

I did have a stiffness and buzzing sound last time on the track..."

George, I've told you over and over, just take ONE blue pill at a time!

 

[jdeft1]

If it lasts over four hours.... well, you know the drill!!

 

[1994viper]

Thanks for your help. I just got the car back from the shop. During inspection there were no leaks or signs of wear found. Replaced the PS fluid, with the recommended dealers' liquid and the car seems fine. Hopefully it stays that way. I also, got the brake fluid flushed.

 

[KNG SNKE]

I never posted here after I did it.

This is a great writeup and is super simple to do. Took less then 30 minutes to perform. Great information!

 

[C-Note]

Thanks for the feed back and I m glad if it helped!

 

[Hirkophoto]

I think your one of the lucky ones. I did my pulley last weekend. The stock pulley would not come off. I broke and the center portion had to be cut and ground off. The new pulley had to be milled out slightly (Dave's pulley) Then heated to one million degrees! Before it could be pressed on with a big machine press. There is no way I would have been able to do this job in my garage or without the help of a full machine shop and someone who has done three of these before! I don't like to spend money on having people work on my car but my recommendation to anyone doing this is have a shop do it, or at the very least make sure you have a help from someone who has done it before.

 

[C-Note]

I have done three of them as well, I have had one of the three break and had to cut it off the shaft.
The three Roe kits I have installed have gone back on the shaft very easily, no heat.