Knock or normal? (1 Viewer)

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(Note: I haven't personally done this test, but I believe that there's enough slack in the power steering pump lines to do this without disconnecting anything. If I'm wrong, let me know)

1) unbolt the power steering pump from the engine block.

2) pull the power steering pump away from the engine block slightly and hold it in place with zip ties, wires, or whatever.

3) start the engine and let it run for a minute while you listen for the noise.

You will be running with a hole in the engine block. Don't be surprised if this causes a change in idle behavior. Obviously, you'll probably have much more noise coming out of the engine, through the open hole. You'll have to listen carefully. I'm sure some oil will get flung out. No big deal.

If this eliminates the noise, then the input gear on the power steering pump was damaged.

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If you continue to hear the "knock" with the power steering pump pulled, then reinstall it and move on to removing the belts.
 
Apologies that it’s taken me so long to get back, but I finally got a chance to remove the power steering pump and sure enough… no knocking sound! :) thank you all for your help.

I wasn’t able to take pictures of the gear but I inspected it close and wasn’t able to see a damn thing wrong with it, of course I could be missing something but as far as I could see it was fine. So if I replace the gear, who’s to say it’s not going to do the same thing after I put it in? If I can’t even see anything wrong with it now, and if it only takes some microscopic chip in one of the teeth to damage it, how do I put a new one in without “damaging” it?
 
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I inspected it close and wasn’t able to see a damn thing wrong with it, of course I could be missing something but as far as I could see it was fine.
If I were you, I would follow the FSM instructions to remove the gear, inspect the shaft and woodruff key for any damage and, assuming everything looks good, reinstall it to the FSM torque spec.
 
Thought mine was the pump. It would go away when turning the wheel a little. Never pulled it to ck. Knock got a lot worse a few months later after abusing it being stuck in snow drifts and the rig running for 48 hours. Between how much it burns and leaks I was low on oil.
I’d pull the lower pan and look. With that knock if it’s a rod you’ll find material in the pan. The thread insert in the pan has a lip that sits it higher then the bottom. The bearing material will be sitting there waiting for you if it’s there. Doesn’t take long to get that lower off to know for sure.
 
Thought mine was the pump. It would go away when turning the wheel a little. Never pulled it to ck. Knock got a lot worse a few months later after abusing it being stuck in snow drifts and the rig running for 48 hours. Between how much it burns and leaks I was low on oil.
I’d pull the lower pan and look. With that knock if it’s a rod you’ll find material in the pan. The thread insert in the pan has a lip that sits it higher then the bottom. The bearing material will be sitting there waiting for you if it’s there. Doesn’t take long to get that lower off to know for sure.
That sucks man. Like I said I pulled the pump and ran the truck and didn’t hear any knocking. Then when I put the pump back on the sound was back, so I think that’s the culprit, but I need to pull the pan anyway to reseal it so I will check it out. Thank you.
 
That sucks man. Like I said I pulled the pump and ran the truck and didn’t hear any knocking. Then when I put the pump back on the sound was back, so I think that’s the culprit, but I need to pull the pan anyway to reseal it so I will check it out. Thank you.
Wits' End has a tool made specifically to hold the gear during removal / replacement to prevent damage to the gear.

You can also buy a new gear if you want to go that route.

 
I know it’s been a few months since I’ve responded to this thread, but I thought I’d update it. I finally got around to replacing the power steering pump gear. I did use the wits end tool to install the new gear and torqued everything to spec. Sure enough, no noise! However, I did do an oil change and saw the oil coming out contained a lot of glitter. I’m hoping it’s from either the old gear or the new gear wearing in and not something worse. Either way I appreciate all the help I received on this thread.
 
I replaced my PS pump recently, along with nearly everything else. My noise is more of a slight scrubbing, squealing noise. It changes when you turn the wheel. Do you know what the power steering pump gear inside the block turns on ? Is there a wear part in there that can go bad? I torqued my gear for the PS pump correctly and the spacing is right at 5/8", which is what I measured before ever taking it off. I have been afraid to drive it much until I get this figured out. Your thoughts?
 

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