Power steering and hydroboost swap

[matttahoe53]

I am getting ready to redo my power steering and swap to hydroboost as all these components are leaking and this gives me an excuse to upgrade. I also was wondering if I have overlooked anything or should do other repairs while I am at it.
Here is a list of what I have ordered:

AGR 284352 Gear box
PSC sp1404 power steering pump
AC Delco lines
36-365490
36-368640
36-365460
Hayden PS cooler 1009
AC Delco Booster 178-579

I still need:
A brake pedal
Something to block the vacuum spot on the intake. (What did others use?)
A master cylinder (not sure if I am going to machine out the booster to except a nbs MC yet)
A new pittman arm.

The swap seems pretty straight forward. I will update with pictures as I go. Let me know if I am missing anything.

 

[matttahoe53]

Well I have almost everything I need to get started except for a hydroboost brake pedal. The yards around me seem to be too busy to check for me and will not let me pull the part myself it's been very frustrating. LMC truck no longer sells the part either. Another small hang up was that the fitting that came with my PS cooler does not fit the low pressure side of the gear box. To fix this I bought a factory return line and will put in a filter before the cooler. Hopefully I will get my booster back from the machine shop next week and will be able to get everything done next weekend.

 

[bluex]

Here's a booster an pedal for sale...

http://www.gmt400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23929

 

[matttahoe53]

Here's a booster an pedal for sale...

http://www.gmt400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23929

Thank you for that I just pm'd him. I thought I saw a posting for sale but was unable to find it. Thanks again for bringing it to my attention again.

 

[bluex]

No problem!

 

[matttahoe53]

Well I got started yesterday and everything is out and the new gear box is in. Pulling everything was fairly simply and straight forward. The only issue I had was putting the new Pittman arm on the gear box. I don't know how anyone can put one on without air tools. I had to take mine to a shop and ask nicely if they would tighten mine down for me, which they did in 2 seconds. I need to get an air compressor soon.

Does anyone have any tip for filling the gear box with fluid and bleeding the system? All my components are brand new so there is no fluid in anything.

 

[bluex]

Fill the reservoir on the pump an run the engine with the wheels off the ground cycle the steering. Keep topping off the fluid as you cycle it. It helps to fill the reservoir completely the very first time since everything is dry it will empty pretty quick.

Once you can stop adding fluid with the wheels in the air lower it down an cycle it some more until all the bubbles stop coming up. If you also the hydro boost swap, pump the brakes during these steps as well...

 

[someotherguy]

Negatory. Before even touching the steering wheel, with the truck on level ground fill the reservoir, start engine, run a few seconds, shut off. Check and fill reservoir as needed and repeat. THEN jack it up and turn the steering from side to side and do not force it to lock position since that makes it go into pressure bypass.

And be sure, seriously please believe me on this, use "real" power steering fluid in your hydroboost - not transmission fluid. The hydroboost works the system harder and trans fluid will foam. All arguments about p/s fluid vs. trans fluid fall apart here; trust me I run trans fluid in MOST p/s systems, but NOT in a hydroboost system.

Richard

 

[matttahoe53]

I am using this.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[matttahoe53]

Well I wasn't able to finish today. I just need to install the master cylinder and bleed the brakes as well as bleed the power steering system.

A couple of notes from today.

One, the power steering pump originally had a couple of brackets on it and I couldn't figure out what they were used for so I didn't put them back on and it turns out they weren't needed.

Two, it is impossible to put the power steering pump pulley back on by yourself it is definitely a two person job.

Three, the brake pedal I got was from a 95 truck and it did not have the same type of post as my original brake pedal. The end part where the clip goes to retain the electronic piece and the booster piece was different and I was unable to reuse it. So I used and E clip from the hardware store and that was much easier to put on and will work solidly. I'm not sure if this is standard or not but the part where the booster goes on the pedal was not as long as the original in my truck, but the e clip snugged everything in tight.