crushers

well, update. it turned out the 3 PS pumps were dead. tried #4 today and boom, PS is functional. lesson learned.

reasonably high, yes, touching the ceiling, no. I understand what you are suggesting. too high and the fluid comes out the reservoir. thank you for the suggestion.

this almost makes sense, seriously. that would answer the is it "the pump issue" question. thanks for the suggestion.

update: one guy suggested that if the rebuilt steering box was bypassing the fluid then the pump would not build any pressure. pulled a box from a running 80 and installed it. fingers crossed and nothing. exactly the same results. grrrr. so 2...

the one pump is brand new, one from a running truck and the original. I will tear one of the old ones apart to check. thanks for pointing this out.

I did check this a few times, they are different sizes but still mistakes happen. they are correct. thank you for asking.

thanks for contributing, yes, the front wheels were off the ground. lock to lock engine off, lock to lock engine running ... many many times each.

about 6" off the ground and agree, sounds like air in the system ... that will not bleed.

dead quiet, lock to lock, no sound at all.

i did consider this, as was suggested from others as well. 3 pumps with their own drive gears (one brand new) all slipping? but yes, i did test each one for slipping before install. thank you for the suggestion, appreciated.

vacuum and injection pump off same drive gear as the PS pump, thank you for the reply

thank you for the reply, 1HZ lines stay connected.

It has been a while. I have installed a couple dozen 60/80 series PS over the decades. I have NEVER had to bleed them, install, fill, fire and in a minute or so I have power steering. Well, that has changed. In the build I am doing I installed...