Sunday, June 04, 2006
power steering
The power steering system was completed using a custom flexible pressure hose, a fabricated bracket to hold it in place and a new hardline to connect the pressure hose to the steering sector.
The pressure hose uses the pump end that came with the engine (although this is the same fitting the gas Trooper hose uses, just not as long and full of curves) and the opposite end is the same as the gas Trooper hose as well. I believe this hose is actually a Rodeo hose which has been modified at the pump end, as the Rodeo hose pump fitting looks to be correct at first glance but is actually different in inner diameter and will not work with the Trooper pump. Thanks to Jerry Lemond for the hydraulic fabrication work and consultation on this stage of the project. As far as I can tell, the diesel and gas power steering pumps are identical save for the pulley.
The pressure hose then travels down along the side of the radiator and is secured by a bracket I fabricated. The connection is the same as the stock gas Trooper and uses the top half of the factory bracket to retain the hose. The lower half of the bracket is a piece of angle iron. The bracket attaches to the frame on top of the bracket that holds the power steering hardlines that run along the frame, below the radiator.
The new hardline was made from a length of 3/16" brake line (I believe that's the dimension - I matched the old hardline I removed from the truck) which was bent to connect the pressure hose to the sector. The fittings on the ends were taken from the old hardline and re-used. It was time-consuming to get the bends just right, as the line is fairly short and has to be pretty much perfect or the threads won't start correctly in the sector or at the pressure hose.
The 1986 diesel Trooper uses the fluid return line as the cooler and this line is looped from the reservior to the sector, running along the frame below the radiator. The gas Trooper cools the fluid using the pressure line, as the pump is on the passenger side of the engine bay and the pressure line has to run across to the opposite side anyway. I removed the old pressure line and so was left without a cooler line. I decided to install the diesel cooler line, as it was the easiest solution (it bolts right in, no modifications needed).
The reservior was connected to the pump using a length of silicone heater hose, which is oil-resistant. The return line (below the radiator, as factory for diesel Troopers) is connected to a length of transmission oil cooler line which runs from the hardline up to the reservior.
If I had to do this again, I would modify the pressure hose end to match the return line from the gas Trooper, as the gas design reservior-to-sector hose screws into the sector. This way, I would be able to eliminate the bracket and hardline I fabricated and attach the new pressure hose directly to the steering sector. This would have saved hours of work.
posted by acy76, 9:48 PM
