.boB
Dodge Dakota
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7/11/2007
19:16:04
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 Subject: P/S Pump Failure
IP: Logged
Message:
Got back from a 2,500 mile trip, with trailer in tow. Two days later, I was backing the trailer into a driveway, and the power departed from the steering.
Oh, well. Unloaded the trailer, muscled it home, and parked the trailer in the back yard. Not a big deal, I'm thinking. I'll just pop over to Pep Boys and get another pump.
Pulled the old pump out without too much cussing (some). Now I'm trying to think how I'm going to get the pulley off the shaft without that special puller. You can't just use a standard puller, it will bend the pulley. You have to have the special one that clamps around special groove in the center of the pulley. Go take a look at yours, you'll see what I mean.
Of course, I didn't have one. Couldn't think of where I might get on on a Saturday afternoon, either.
I tried to pick up the whole assembly by the pulley, and it came off in my hand! Along with 5" of pump shaft. That's why the pump failed, that shaft snapped in two.
The rest was relativly easy. An hour later, the truck was fixed.
OK, now here's the whole point of this story. What if that shaft had failed somewhere in the middle of Kansas? It looked OK. No fluid leaks. No strange noises. Everything seemed to be OK, except no power to the steering.
I would have continued to drive the truck. Yes, it requires some muscle to drive, but I would have done it anyway, so I could fix it when I got home.
With a broken shaft, eventually that pulley would have walked out of there. The serpentine belt would fly off. Hydrualic fluid would have flown everywhere. Probably on to the hot exhaust manifold. And that probably would have caused a fire. That's a bad thing.
My advice is simple. If your P/S fails, remove the belt and check the pulley. That only takes a few minutes to do.
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