Power steering low pressure line 3/8?...and clamps? Now HP line replacement and bleeding

[Skniper]

I have the entire front of my 62 removed right now and cleaning up a bunch of stuff while I have the access.

Is the flexible portion(s) of the power steering low pressure/return line standard 3/8 PS line that I can buy bulk at any LPS?

And....are the OEM tower type clamps (pics below) on the PS line some sort of magical type of clamp?? Don’t recall seeing them anywhere other than the PS line.
Just curious if these are specifically suited to seal PS fluid better, or any hose clamp works fine, these should clean up well but one of mine is likely trashed.

 

[FJACS]

You can use 3/8 atf rated hose and fuel injection style clamps. You might find the old clamps are oil soaked enough that they come off and can be reused.

 

[Spook50]

I used some leftover -6AN hose (3/8" ID) and a couple spring clamps. The 3/8 is a pretty tight fit since the metal nipples are a metric size, but it fit and works well. Had to warm up the hose ends so they'd slip over the nipples easier.

 

[Skniper]

Good to know, still wonder why Toyota used these unique clamps here. (?)
No big deal, just curious. These look well preserved in their natural protectant, will probably have to swap out the one by the pump reservoir.
Having this kind of access to the front of the engine bay is crazy convenient!!

 

[Skniper]

Small job, but got these PS return hoses replaced yesterday.

I used some off the shelf 3/8” ID from the LPS. Holy hell that is a tight fit!...even with using some silicone grease on the new hose and hard lines. 3/8 is 9.5mm equivalent, OEM ID is 10mm (pic below of original) I even have complete access to the front of the engine bay right now, that would’ve been a b*tch otherwise.

The original clamps cleaned up super nice, had to ‘rebuild’ one, they were well covered in preservant for a long time.

Orig. return line w sizing:

All cleaned up:

The old hoses were pretty brittle, hopefully this cleans up some of the PS sludge that seems to get everywhere.

 

[Skniper]

Summab!tch!!

Just noticed this (pic below) while posting that last photo, did NOT see this while working in there.

Looks like this has to be done while I’m here.
I’ve seen a couple aftermarket high pressure lines available...is one better than the other??
Gotta get on the “search” button now.
Dammit.

 

[Gretsch]

I got a high pressure line from NAPA. Still working great after three years of daily driving. Mines a 60 though so somewhat different I think on yours. Mileage may vary. HTH.

 

[Skniper]

I got a high pressure line from NAPA. Still working great after three years of daily driving. Mines a 60 though so somewhat different I think on yours. Mileage may vary. HTH.

Thanks Robert, just ordered the Gates hp line from rockauto, seems cheaper than it should be, hopefully it fits and holds up well. Will get the old line remade/fixed by a hydraulic hose shop to have a solid backup.

 

[SteveH]

One hint for stiff, reinforced hoses that hard are to press over a fitting is to hold the hose end in boiling water for 30 seconds, and THEN slip it over the fitting.

 

[Skniper]

One hint for stiff, reinforced hoses that hard are to press over a fitting is to hold the hose end in boiling water for 30 seconds, and THEN slip it over the fitting.

Sounds like a good tip, reminds me of forming mouthpieces for football back in the day. I could've used my old Coleman stove out in the garage for this...then I could've posted in the Coleman Thread too.

 

[Skniper]

Pictures say a 1000 words...think it was about time to replace the high pressure line. It was really brittle and crumbling badly, the underlying hose reinforcement felt solid...but still. Having the whole front core support out made this super easy, shame on Toyota for this PS line routing.

Original hose near the steering box:

Passenger side junction (hiding under the protective sleeve):

 

[Skniper]

The new Gates HP line (Rockauto) comes with some cheapo looking mount hardware. The OEM clamps are very nice but the two front clamps along the crossmember are permanently spot welded to the orig. hard line.

A 3/16 drill made quick work of the spot welds and remounted the orig. clamps on the new line.

Hecho en.......hope this thing holds. Lol.

 

[Skniper]

All mounted up, desludged, nice and shiney. Also had a chance to freshen up the frame rails with a wire wheel and some chassis paint, pretty crusty on the pass. side from 30 years of battery drippings.

 

[Skniper]

Bleeding the PS lines:

The truck is not running currently, no battery or radiator in it, so I tried the manual hand-turn-the-pump-method.

Removed the belt from the PS pump pulley, removed the return line to the reservoir and plugged the reservoir inlet, then directed return line to a bucket, filled with ATF, and spun pulley by hand (yes,correct direction)...and.....nothing happened. Tried the other direction just in case, nothing. Too slow maybe.

So I put a 19mm socket on the drill and spun the PS pump real good, fluid sucked out of the reservoir immediately and return line spewed plenty into the bucket. Ran about 2 quarts through it nice and clean.

Ran out of time but next I’m going to do the drill method with wheels up and turn L & R while flushing... hoping this will run more fluid throughout the steering box. It is very easy to manage fluid refills using this method.

 

[Skniper]

PS Pumps:

I replaced my original fj62 pump with a cityracer pump awhile back, the orig seemed leaky and tired and the cityracer was an immediate plug n play option.
I probably could’ve done a more thorough flush/bleed at the time, but figured the system would completely bleed itself naturally too.

Either way, the replacement pump has never “felt right”. Choppy, groaning, works ok but then stutters sometimes, also noticed evidence of some leakage while replacing these lines. Maybe the old lines were leaking near the pump, hard to tell.
This time I’m bleeding/flushing as thoroughly as possible to give this pump a chance...but also ordering all the bits to rebuild my old original, according to the FJ62 pump rebuild thread.

Something that bugs me is the newer pump required drill speed spinning to get the fluid moving, maybe that’s normal, dont know (?).
Maybe it has something to do with the valve at the pressure line, don’t know (?).

Anyone know?

 

[OSS]

My old Toyota PS pump (that worked fine) on my old 60 could flush ATF through it just by me turning the pulley by hand. No matter how slow I turned the pulley, fluid would get pumped through it.

 

[Spook50]

Thanks Robert, just ordered the Gates hp line from rockauto, seems cheaper than it should be, hopefully it fits and holds up well. Will get the old line remade/fixed by a hydraulic hose shop to have a solid backup.

Definitely the way to go.

@OSS I found out last time I flushed my PS system that plugging the low pressure port on the reservior and running the return line down to a bucket, the fluid will all flow through if you just keep topping off the reservior with new fluid and turn the wheel stop to stop. One side to another, two times (so full left to full right, then back, then back to full right, then back to full left again) top off the reservior, repeat a few times and the system is perfectly flushed and fairly well bled. I did this when I flushed out all my old (damn near black) fluid with good new Schaeffer's All-Trans ATF and it worked beautifully. Obviously you want to have the front end jacked up of course, but it's the best way I've found to flush the PS system. Came across it on a Chevy forum actually.