LS power steering

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89GMCJOHN

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Just got my 89 W/T swap running ...its a 2005 Yukon 5.3 and accessories. I noticed my high pressure power steering hose swelling when I rev it. I havent driven it yet. I have read there are Borgenson pressure reducing kits out there ? Anybody else run across this when LS swapping ? It did puke out fluid from the cap when I removed the cap . To me it looks like its simply
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over pressurized.
 

0xDEADBEEF

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We just had to replace the high pressure line on my son's truck and now you got me wondering ...

Externally the 96 pump and the Gen III pump looked identical and used the same fittings.
 

OutlawDrifter

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Same pump, you have other issues.

I'm running LS pumps on my Z28 and my '49 GMC that has a ZQ8 S10 steering gear(and frame for that matter).
 

89GMCJOHN

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We just had to replace the high pressure line on my son's truck and now you got me wondering ...

Externally the 96 pump and the Gen III pump looked identical and used the same fittings.
I assume your line burst or leaked ? For $20 I may just buy the pressure adjusting valve and see what happens. Looks like a 45 min process at most. Seems like the least painful route to go ....
 

0xDEADBEEF

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I assume your line burst or leaked ? For $20 I may just buy the pressure adjusting valve and see what happens. Looks like a 45 min process at most. Seems like the least painful route to go ....

It was leaking pretty bad.
 

OutlawDrifter

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Are you running a smaller pulley on the pump?
 

Dropped88

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May just be a bad hose, I've done many ls swaps and have never had a issue with it swelling the hose.

And some of them got the valve for the hydroboost system which makes more pressure
 

L31MaxExpress

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May just be a bad hose, I've done many ls swaps and have never had a issue with it swelling the hose.

And some of them got the valve for the hydroboost system which makes more pressure

Not that I do not believe you, but I swapped a hydroboost pump for a standard pump on a swap I did a few years ago to eliminate the failure prone rubber cap on the extra return line port. I never noticed a change in steering effort between the pumps. If the pressure was higher from the hydroboost pump it was not enough to notice with a stock 87 G20 saginaw box.

I am thinking it is more like a 30 year old rubber hose that has met the end of its life. As cheap as the hoses are it is well worth changing. Same goes for brake hoses. When I change hydraulic parts on a brake system, I do them all. Master cylinder, calipers, hoses and wheel cylinders. When you fix a leak somewhere in the system the added pressure tends to blow out other worn components. Cooling systems are the same way with old leaking hoses, radiators and water pumps. Change it all and do it once or keep fighting leaks every few days, weeks or months as the next weakest link fails. I have seen ac systems blow hoses apart as well when a weak or failed compressor is changed. The 35 year old ac discharge hose on my 1980 Corvette literally turned into a mass of tangled rubber with the sound of cannon going off under the hood instantly followed by a spray of lime green pag oil coating the windshield that looked like I had just driven through the predator shortly after I got the ac system working with a fresh compressor. I had installed a retrofit high pressure cut-off switch as well so it blew out under ~400 psi.

Rubber tends to dry rot and fail suddenly. Good reason not to keep tires older than 5 years old by the DOT numbers on your ride as well. Most blowouts I have seen are dry rotted old garbage.
 
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tayto

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the valve doesn't make more pressure. it just increases flow and sets the pressure relief higher.
 

L31MaxExpress

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the valve doesn't make more pressure. it just increases flow and sets the pressure relief higher.

I actually just had an epiphany on the LS pumps when you stated that. Was there a difference in valving between a rack and pinon truck and a gear box truck? Some of the GMT800s were a gear box and others were rack and pinon. Typically a rack and pinon setup runs higher pressures than the gear box. It could be that the pump I used was for a gear box truck, thus no difference in pressure/flow than the equivalent older pump for a gearbox. Where as the pump the OP used may have been from a rack and pinon truck. Just thinking out loud here, because there are multiple part numbers on the LS truck pumps and they vary year to year by various equipment options. Some early GMT800s even had EVO on them like our later trucks.
 
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