I have been fighting :x with power steering pumps on my 74 for about 7years now. I had the steering gear blueprinted that long ago and since I can't seem to find a pump that works right with it. I had the gear rebuilt because it was getting really sloppy and was leaking from the pitman shaft It cost me almost 400 bucks back then and that just took care of the gear itself, I still had to install it.

Anyway, It seems like the stock pumps just can't feed it right. The pump I had before this one hardly gave me any pressure at all and the one I have now is getting kind of unpredictable. Periodically while driving down the freeway in a slight turn I can feel what I can only describe as a flat spot in the steering. IT's almost like the wheel got stuck for microsecond. 8O

I've learned how to deal with this without flipping the car over but it's a bit disconcerting. Another symptom happens when the car is just sitting and idling. I can turn the wheel just fine but when I get within 1/8th of a turn to full left lock the wheel gets very hard and I loose all power assist. This does not happen on Full Right lock.

I've got full urethane suspension bushings, new Balljoints, wheel bearings, etc. I already told you the steering gear was blueprinted which was about 30K mi. ago. Idler ARM, center link, pitman arm, tie rod ends. Oh yeah and new pressure and return PS lines twice.
Basically the works cuz the front end used to be a mess.

I've heard about a procedure to enlarge an orifice somewhere on the PS pump but I don't remember where I saw the info. Also I don't know how to get the Resevoir off the pump without destroying it. I have also read that my symptoms could be due to a worn out steering gear but I can't quite believe that in my case having had the thing blueprinted.

So does anyone have any ideas about this?
:?

http://jeffd.50megs.com/Pump_valve_mod_page.htm

thanks, I was looking for that site!

:D

It doesn't sound like a pump problem, sounds like box issues. The p/s pump does not know which way you are turning-it doesn't care. If you only have a problem to one side I'd look at suspension/steering linkage or the box itself. Funny you mentioned having problems for the last 7 years since the box was rebuilt-seems you would have thought about the box right away. The Dodge trucks have a very similiar complaint about the sticking sometimes-replacing the box fixes them everytime.

Yes I agree with Dennis that it is most likely a steering box problem; however it could be a steering linkage problem also. I would very carefully check the tie rods, drag link, etc.