Hey all,
I've had problems where I'm able to turn the steering wheel completely from
lock to lock with just a simple flick of the finger. I just sit back and
watch the steering wheel spin like it's being controlled by someone else.
I've gotten used to it over time, but I was concerned it was a safety issue.
I talked to a shop about it and they wanted something like $500 to see if it
was maybe the gearbox. I decided to just change out the pump since it was
cheaper and easier. I had bought the pump without reservoir because I
didn't realize I couldn't get the pump out. I messed with it for a while,
but I ended up just taking the pump back and bought the pump w/ reservoir.
Much easier. I still don't know whether the pump could have been removed,
but in the end it was *much* less work. No big problems. The bolt that holds
the bracket down along with the ground wires was so messed that I had ended
up breaking the electrical ring connectors. I just bought some new
connectors and crimped them on. The wires are *almost* too short now since
they weren't very long to being with. At least they're on.
On a side note, I was planning ahead and checking out my exhaust manifold
bolts and messed around for a while trying to get them loose. They've never
been touched (on a '97) so I was hammering on sockets, using vice grips, box
end wrenches, tapping the bolts with hammers, and of course using lots of
Kroil. Nothing was working. It wasn't my primary goal for the day so I
wasn't working on it terribly hard, but I *hate* grinding off bolt heads so
I thought I'd try something I had seen at Sears. I was only up to my 3rd run
to the store for the project :) so I headed out to Sears and picked up their
socket bolt/nut extractors. If you haven't seen this, they're basically
sockets with teeth. When you run them counter-clockwise they bite into the
head and back it out... in theory anyway. I can say, though, that they work
great! It was nearly a miracle at how easily the bolt backed out. I figured
with all the rust they were just going to end up biting big pieces out of
the head and leaving me with nothing. They actually came off with only about
20 ft-lbs of torque (my estimate) and only about a 1/4 turn. Very nice. I'd
highly recommend them.
Anyway, that's my summary for my day. Enjoyable, but I could have done with
more performance additions. ;) Maybe next week.
Oh, the steering has improved. It still feels a bit light, but overall it
seems to have less of that floating above the road feeling. At least I've
got a nice new shiny part in my truck. :)
Later,
Mark
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