RTH - Alternator bracket woes - power steering hose. (1 Viewer)

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Jun 27, 2014
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Purchased the Photoman bracket. Before I detail my issue, I want to make it clear that none of this is in any way his fault. He's been helpful - this is my power steering hose's fault!

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Look closely and you will see that my power steering hose (the one to be anchored by the 22mm banjo bolt) is very much bound to interfere with my new alt bracket. Interestingly, it was already in contact with the OLD bracket, which should shed light on how it was installed. Maybe it's the work of the PO, maybe something else. The bend in the tube is too sharp. Do I order a new high pressure hose, or do my best to put a more reasonable bend in that hose? The FSM says that the tab up top has to contact the post on the vane pump assembly. What happens if it doesn't? How do I remove it, and would a light application of heat and a vise be sufficient?

I'll have to get her running again soon, so I apologize for making a RTH thread but I'm not sure what to do. This is probably the most involved repair job we've yet done, so if I've asked something obvious or silly, again, my apologies. Thanks, mud.
 
I would bolt your hose back into place a carefully bend your hose out of the way. Pay close attention to the "tang" so you don't break it off. I wouldn't heat the pipe as it can make the joint on the banjo fitting weak.
 
I would bolt your hose back into place a carefully bend your hose out of the way. Pay close attention to the "tang" so you don't break it off. I wouldn't heat the pipe as it can make the joint on the banjo fitting weak.

Should I bend it up, with respect to the ground, or toward the driver's side front tire? Can I muscle the bend in with my hands? Should I use vice grips for leverage?
 
I looked closer at your picture and I would say to try and bend it in your hands first. I would try to bend it where the red arrow is pointing. And I would try to bend it straighter. Not necessarily straight, just enough to clear the bracket. Be careful not to break the banjo fitting where the green arrow is pointing. I've broken the pipe from the round piece that gets bolted to the pump. If you do that you're up s*** creek without a paddle
Should I bend it up, with respect to the ground, or toward the driver's side front tire? Can I muscle the bend in with my hands? Should I use vice grips for leverage?

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I'm going to give it a go bending it, but something tells me I should ask for the part number for this part. It doesn't look wildly difficult to replace, and I guess it's time what with all the crud on it. Is this an aftermarket part? Also, any part number for the washers? Otherwise I'm going to clean them up and hope for the best.
 
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I have installed a couple of dozen banjo fittings and I have never seen the interference problem. I have seen the results of someone trying to bend that tubing. It is tuff stuff. If you have it out of the rig, just put it in a vice and GENTLY squeeze the curve a bit flatter. Also, assuming the base nut under the banjo is torqued properly, you could rotate the banjo away from the tang a ways before you put final torque on it. The tang is there to prevent the banjo from over-rotating when you hit it with am impact gun. Good luck!!
 
I have installed a couple of dozen banjo fittings and I have never seen the interference problem.

Guessing this is one way of saying "That's not OEM"? I've got a leak in the system somewhere, or, at least, I did. It mysteriously stopped one day and aside from a quiet whine at full lock, my power steering worked great. So it's fine for the tab not to contact the tang? Because that'd be the easiest solution. I've also got a tiny little vise I can probably crank down on the hose without taking it out.
 
Either/both should help enough to clear tha alternator. Jose looks aftermarket. Metal compression collar onto rubber hose looks different to me right off hand?
 
Either/both should help enough to clear tha alternator. Jose looks aftermarket. Metal compression collar onto rubber hose looks different to me right off hand?


I'll give this a go as soon as the sun rises. I checked to see how much the hose costs and it's definitely not cheap! Thanks, @inkpot. Will update with further disasters as they occur.
 
Woke up in a cold sweat after dreaming about this. It's become a minor existential crisis.

Why the heck is the hose shaped like that? Why doesn't it just go directly from the banjo bolt to the steering box in a relatively straight line? What does the U-bend at the bottom of the hose do? I already have a power steering cooler, so the U-bend isn't involved in cooling somehow. It's not gravity-assisted like a normal U-bend in plumbing, because the system is bled. What advantage could this possibly have over a shorter length of hose?

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My guess on the u is to 1) help with connecting the hose in the tight proximity to each other and 2) give some flexibility for the motor to move a bit in relation to the frame, where the gear box is mounted?

On my swap, I just replaced everything with with Teflon braided line. The input is a bit of an odd duck at 17x1.5, psc in Dallas sells them and there is a cutter on eBay that also sells them if you're thinking of going that route (which will be cheaper than a new hose).

Finally, if you have a power steering leak the cap is often a culprit on these trucks and a good place to start.
 
Brief update - new alt is in. The @Photoman bracket works great if you read the instructions. Don't just wing it like I did. A few things to note - you DO reuse the old top bolt. The big bolt he provides is to hold the tension block on, it's not the top bolt, and in fact, won't fit through the top alt mount bushing.. The adjusting arm has a little protruding section. So here's how it's assembled from the BACK of the motor to the front: Serrated nut, alternator, adjusting arm (with the protrusion facing rear), then the adjusting block, then the washer and the bolt. The protrusion rides on the bracket which is why it's designed like that. I don't know if the adjusting block is to be oriented up or down, so it's oriented down. Now would be an excellent time to scrub the engine a bit, and I did. It turns out that the Toyota engine block is not, in fact, black, but a shiny silver color.

Now I have to put the power steering hose back in, which will be marginally harder with the alt in the way. When you're swinging a ratchet around in there it can be helpful to disconnect the cable that goes to the center of the dizzy.

I hope this helps some clueless newbie mechanic who finds themselves in our position!
 

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