Power steering gear and replacement issues

[Malleus]

Yes, but don't drive it anywhere. The rear of the timing cover will be open. Probably be a good idea to cover the hole. Just sayin'...

FWIW, you have to loosen the nut and retighten it to "check" the torque. Putting a torque wrench on a tight fastener won't give you dynamic torque, which is what the spec lists.

 

[former0321]

Malleus- didn't plan on driving it anywhere. Was going to place a drain pan below to catch any oil. Definitely going to pull the nut off and start from the beginning. Also do a re-inspection of the gear for any damage. I will post pics of any findings of damage, and also give results when finished with this job.

 

[madisonr34]

Did you put the rotor vanes in the right way. There is a round side and a flat side.

 

[Tools R Us]

An easier, possibly better plan is to use a mechanic's stethoscope, listen to the pump, front cover, etc, and see if the source of the noise can be located. Like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-52500-Mechanics-Stethoscope/dp/B0002SQYSM?tag=ihco-20

How was the gear held to remove/replace? Have seen a couple that where gear teeth were dorked, but they made more of a tapping noise. In both cases, using a small die grinder, were able to carefully reshape the teeth, making them quiet again.

 

[Malleus]

I had to do something similar recently; I file-hobbed the tooth profile back in shape, after the puller chewed on it. They're soft, so it wasn't much work.

If the d*** gear wasn't more than the pump, I'd have replaced it...

 

[former0321]

Madison- yes the gear was placed on exactly as it was taken off of the previous PS pump.
Tools R Us- thought of this, thank you for reminding me though

 

[madisonr34]

Madison- yes the gear was placed on exactly as it was taken off of the previous PS pump.
Tools R Us- thought of this, thank you for reminding me though

Former did you rebuild the pump or buy a reman unit?? I meant the the rotor vanes inside the pump that moves the PS fluid.

 

[former0321]

Madison- As stated before, this is a brand new pump.

 

[dekican]

I found this thread via a Google search because I was swapping out my power steering pump and had the same question posed by the original poster: when swapping the gear over to the new pump, at what depth do you drive the gear down?

As others have mentioned, the answer is: because the shaft is tapered, the gear only goes down so far. Once it's seated snug (I hammered mine into position using a socket) and the holding nut is torqued to the right spec, it should."automatically" be at the right height. Mine certainly looked to be "higher" than it was on the original pump, and I was worried that it was going to cause issues but I installed it onto my 1996 fzj80 and have had no symptoms of anything amiss.

Just wanted to add another data point to the thread for others that may get this search result when researching the gear seating depth.

 

[Mat Jadamec]

I retro fit the OEM gear to the new pump as well. Best I can recall I torqued and then checked gear position matched the OEM before install. No issues. The only warning I remember in procedures I reviewed was don't damage the gear teeth in any way.