Folks, this one has me puzzled.
A few years ago I replaced the bushes in the power steering ram and all seemed to be OK. However during last year, the steering gradually got heavier and heavier to use. I put more air pressure in the tyres, but that didn't seem to help.
Then it sprung a leak in the power steering flex rubber tube and started squirting copious quantities of LHM on the ground and over the gearbox whenever you tried to go around a corner. With Cit-in coming up and lots of work to do on the SM, it has sat in the garage for 3 months feeling sorry for itself.
Now that Cit-in is over, I decided to try to fix it. I have replaced a section of the rubber pipe with some transmission cooler hose. At first it just popped off the metal supply pipe (lost a litre of LHM here) and then when I clamped it on better, it popped a hole in this rubber pipe as well.
It seems to flow OK when there is no steering effort but as soon as you try to turn the wheel, the power steering pump seems to labour under very high pressure but it doesn't help to steer the wheels.
Any ideas what is going on here? I am wondering about pinion valve or ram problems.
I suppose I should replace the bit of hose first so I can start the engine to get it up high, then put it on stands and get right back under to the steering gear and have a look for anything obvious there.
Cheers, Ken
A few years ago I replaced the bushes in the power steering ram and all seemed to be OK. However during last year, the steering gradually got heavier and heavier to use. I put more air pressure in the tyres, but that didn't seem to help.
Then it sprung a leak in the power steering flex rubber tube and started squirting copious quantities of LHM on the ground and over the gearbox whenever you tried to go around a corner. With Cit-in coming up and lots of work to do on the SM, it has sat in the garage for 3 months feeling sorry for itself.
Now that Cit-in is over, I decided to try to fix it. I have replaced a section of the rubber pipe with some transmission cooler hose. At first it just popped off the metal supply pipe (lost a litre of LHM here) and then when I clamped it on better, it popped a hole in this rubber pipe as well.
It seems to flow OK when there is no steering effort but as soon as you try to turn the wheel, the power steering pump seems to labour under very high pressure but it doesn't help to steer the wheels.
Any ideas what is going on here? I am wondering about pinion valve or ram problems.
I suppose I should replace the bit of hose first so I can start the engine to get it up high, then put it on stands and get right back under to the steering gear and have a look for anything obvious there.
Cheers, Ken