Power steering cooler delete?

[ericg75]

Just considering instead of buying a new power steering cooler (old one is completely rusted out) I could just buy the pressure and return lines for a lot cheaper from LMC. Anybody go this route and have good/bad experiences?

Power Steering Hoses

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[MIHELA]

You should be able to walk into damn near any auto parts store in the country and walk out with both lines. They are super common.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

You should be able to walk into damn near any auto parts store in the country and walk out with both lines. They are super common.

That is actually very unlikely. These trucks are so old that we stocked very little for them unless it interchanged across more of the GM line. That was 1-2 years ago when I managed an Oreilly store. We had a mega hub that stocked a massive number of parts about 30 minutes away. They would have had them, but the individual stores would not have. They were phasing out GMT800 stuff when I was there at the store level.

 

[PWC Repair]

The answer to your question is YES......you can bypass the cooler and be just fine. In the rare circumstance that you're road racing or doing some serious off roading the fluid MIGHT get hot. Not very likely though as there are millions of vehicles on the road that don't have a PS cooler.

 

[someotherguy]

That is actually very unlikely. These trucks are so old that we stocked very little for them unless it interchanged across more of the GM line. That was 1-2 years ago when I managed an Oreilly store. We had a mega hub that stocked a massive number of parts about 30 minutes away. They would have had them, but the individual stores would not have. They were phasing out GMT800 stuff when I was there at the store level.

More or less correct but they could still be ordered from many other places besides LMC which is often not the best choice price-wise for parts you can get elsewhere.

To OP's original question, yeah, you can delete it.. on a 1500 I wouldn't worry about it that much. If you were a 2500/3500 doing actual work I'd say it's a mandatory item, in particular on trucks equipped with hydroboost. The cooler is beneficial on any application but plenty of light duty trucks lived their entire lives just fine without them, before they were a thing.

Richard

 

[MMcc]

You can totally bypass. I was just in there on my truck and the two links below look about right for what came out of mine. But it seems there are a lot of slightly different hoses out there that are supposed to fit GMT-400s so...buyer beware.

Just two weeks ago, I just added an OEM-style dorman cooler. I started the project to replace a leaking hose. Then thought about all the time I spend on dirt tracks turning from lock to lock to lock, so I opted to plumb in the cooler. But it seems the majority of these trucks never had one.

I ended up paying for the convenience of oreillys so I could take the part into the store and make sure I was getting exactly what I needed. Like L31 said above they got it to the store within a few hours from their warehouse.

It was a pretty easy job though. Just suck out the reservoir with a turkey baster. If you've got rust, maybe hit everything with some penetrating oil the night before but they weren't torqued too tight.

Low Pressure Hose (amazon)
High Pressure Hose (amazon)

 

[MMcc]

Great opportunity to do a fluid flush!

1) break the line nuts loose to make sure you can! and you want to proceed
2) turkey-baster out the reservoir
3) cut the low pressure return line
3.1) clamp off the pump-side of the line that remains (otherwise it will just drain the new fluid from the reservoir as you go)
3.2) put the steering gear side of that cut line into a bottle
4) fill the reservoir
5) with the front end of jack stands, engine off, turn the wheel lock to lock a thousand times. Refill the reservoir as you go.

Since you're removing the cooler...no point in flushing that, so..thinking through... You'll probably want to first replace the high pressure line. Then disconnect the cooler from the lower pressure side. Use a scrap of that hose to block of the reservoir-side of the low pressure. Install the new low pressure hose onto the steering box and leave the loose end of that hose in the bottle.

Took somewhere between 2 and 3 quarts.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I will also add I had to add a cooler after I put hydroboost on my van. I paid $20 for a tube/fin Derale cooler on Amazon that was in New condition but listed as Used because it was on aopen box and $6 for a Gates fitting that screwed into the gear box. It was burning the fluid black in 10K miles and the power sterring hose from the pump to the hydroboost melted the convulted tubing over a wiring harness that happened to touch it. I mounted the cooler near where GM mounted the $$$ OEM van tube & fin cooler.

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[454cid]

I think I'd look for a used cooler before deleting it, although I have hydroboost, so I have more of a need for one. New oem style coolers are kinda spendy for what they are. Last I looked it was either Dorman or GM.

 

[Pinger]

While you (or anyone) is missing about with PAS and HydroBoost hoses, consider mounting in-line filters. Not so much for hard (metallic) debris but to catch a bit off of a hose that's come loose and could block a gallery, jam a valve.