Pulley problems

[wally]

I have an express van with early vortec motors in it . Now I know it's not a gmt 400 but it's the same motor though . My question is this has any one ever had a problem getting the pulley on the power steering pump on and off ? Now that being said I do have a couple trucks a 95 and a 97 work truck and I have replaced the pumps in those but never ever have I had to take a pie out of the pulley just to get the old pump out of the bracket and the new pulley is being a ***** to get on and the tool I bought at advance auto parts to do the job sucks any suggestions

 

[skylark]

I personally have never had a problem but I know someone that has. He couldn't get the pulley on properly and he realized that he grabbed the wrong one, one that had a bit of rust on it. As I recall he had to cut the pulley off. I have always greased the pump shaft, pulley and toll real well before removing/installing.

 

[wally]

I tried PB blaster , grease , it's just the strangest thing . Never have I had this happen before I though the worst part of this r and r job was going to be pulling all the crap of to get to the pump. Not the pulley It was even a brand new gm pulley. I love my gm's I have had quite a few and
Replaced the power steering pump on most if not all. I just thought I throw the question out there because crammed under the van hood is what appears to be the same motor that's in my 97 and I replaced the pump on that one too

 

[volunteerff21]

I just did a PS pump on my Suburban with a 5.3. First time it took me two hours of fighting to get the pulley back on and ended up not getting it seated all the way which gave me a ton of belt problems.

Second time I did it, I greased the crap outta the pump shaft and the tool itself (just as Skyark said), and heated the pulley in the oven for about an hour. Pulley slipped on in two minutes.

If the tool you're using isn't working, I can recommend the Harbor Freight one (yes I know, it's cheap blah blah blah), but it worked for me when I didn't want to rent the tool a second time. Cost like $18 bucks, even less if you have a 20% coupon.

 

[wally]

I'll try the harbor freight one before I take it to the shop but the pulley is already half on and the tool that I bought isn't worth a crap it can't do either job at all . Lol the Harbor freight can't be any bigger of a p o s then this one! Lmfao . I'm more pissed off about the chuck of meat on my thumb I lost because the tool slipped

 

[wally]

Thanks for the help guys! I went to Harbor freight and picked up the set and I'm surprised how well this thing is made The one I got from an advanced auto is no way as nice as this one the nut you use to set the pulley was a cast pos not machined like this one. Again thanks for the help guys it's a done deal