Saginaw Pump Flow/Pressure Mod

[TLC76]

I am in the middle of changing out my janky power steering hoses to some nice stainless braided hoses (Teflon on the pressure side), and figured it would be a good time to clean the steering box up and tap it for future hydro assist.

I've read about modding the saginaw pump to get more flow at low RPM's, as well as tweaking it to get the pressure up. Not trying to get crazy with it, but since a lot of steering occurs at or near idle when crawling I figured it would be worth looking into. Anyone done this? Here's the writeup I was looking at: http://westtexasoffroad.homestead.com/powersteering.html

 

[Tigerstripe40]

I've done the West Texas mod on my Saginaw pump.
What I can say is that I can use very light pressure on the steering wheel pretty much all of the time. Some might say its overboosted. Makes for a nice time in the rocks when going slow, but some might get spooked by it at freeway speeds. I'm used to it though.

 

[TLC76]

Thanks for the feedback, how much did you open up the fitting? Did you do all the mods described in the article?

 

[Tigerstripe40]

Thanks for the feedback, how much did you open up the fitting? Did you do all the mods described in the article?

I followed the article almost exactly. I don't know exactly how much I opened it up or stretched the spring because I did this more than 5 years ago. Everything has been running well and the steering is strong. I haven't had to replace anything at all for overpressure.

 

[Tapage]

but some might get spooked by it at freeway speeds. I'm used to it though.

same experience here .. and I did same mods in my old pump .. ( now running PSC one )

 

[TLC76]

The vibration from the unbalanced beadlock 37"s will go nicely with scary responsive steering. The only time I've had it on the freeway was strapped to my Dodge.