Uisge Beathe

I recently replaced my whining power steering pump with a Napa reman. I pulled the reservoir and cleaned it the best I could (it was full of crud), flushed and filled with new ATF fluid. I have also recently replaced upper/lower ball joints and inner/outer tie rods, replaced both CV axles and got an alignment afterward.

My steering wheel has a little bit of slop in it and my steering is tight and will not return to center. Fluid levels are fine and no visible leaks.

The steering was tight PRIOR to any of the work being done, the exception is it steered fine with the whining pump. I am left leaning in the direction of a bad reman pump, not sure how to eliminate other than trying another pump OR the steering rack needs to be rebuilt. I have just over 300K miles on the truck so a rebuild isn't out of the question, BUT it isn't leaking anywhere that I can find.

How can I troubleshoot my issues? Really appreciate any help I can get.

Uisge Beathe

Just in case any of this info ever helps anyone. Since my PS pump is a new/reman and it has a warranty I decided to pull the steering rack off the truck and rebuild it. Once it is ready to go back on I will put new high pressure and return hoses on and Energy Suspension poly rack bushings. When I pulled the inner tie rod boots off, the ram was weeping a little bit. If I wiped my fingers across it my finger would be a little wet with PS fluid but it wasn't noticeable otherwise.

That was enough for me to believe the seals are probably shot and thus the cause of my problems. I will post an update once I get further along.

Just to further explain my statement about having a warrantied pump, I figure if a rebuilt rack doesn't remedy the problem it has to be the pump and I can easily just pull that and take it in for an exchange. I didn't start with the pump because I don't believe the pump is the culprit.

MudHippy

Has it driven right since you had it aligned?

Because this isn't a symptom of a bad pump. It's a symptom of somebody not setting the toe-in correctly while aligning the wheels. I'm not sure if the steering rack could be at fault. I would tend to think not. Especially since it was working fine before you changed the other things.

Uisge Beathe

The symptom existed prior to the new tie rod ends and ball joints but after replacing the old ps pump, so the symptom existed prior to any steering components being replaced or the alignment being altered. Maybe the newer, more efficient pump lead to failure of the rack with 300k miles on it.

According to the print out from the tire shop the alignment is set to spec, including toe-in. The truck doesn't pull in any direction but you have to literally steer the vehicle making constant corrections since the wheels won't return to center. Also I don't see any uneven tread wear and with wet tires leaves a constant contact patch.

The rack barely weeping fluid out into the boots, but not dripping to the ground, is what's keeping me pointed toward the direction of the rack...but I do mean BARELY weeping fluid. Maybe an inner seal is bad and just starting to get past the outer seals?

Uisge Beathe

The actual steering rack / hydraulic ram was bent and needs to be replaced. I have never had a bad curb shot or anything like that but I have certainly done some spirited off roading, also I have not owned it for it's entire 300k mile life so who knows what happened to it in it's previous life but a bent hydraulic ram certainly sounds like the culprit to my problems.