Ok, so, I got my Saginaw pump install finished this afternoon, and it's working absolutely great.
Here's what I got:
- used power steering pump from 1982 Volvo 240 ($50 shipped from Ebay; less than the core cost on most 'new' rebuilt ones!)
- Saginaw Mounting Bracket from Mark's Off Road (PN#122-21A, $65)
- Saginaw Adjustment Bracket from Mark's Off Road (PN#122-23, $25)
- 12mm x 1114mm v-belt ($25)
- A whole lot of metric hardware and washers
- A quart of ATF
Here's how I made it work:
- Mark's bracket is for an FJ40.
Unfortunately, the FJ60's motor mount interferes with the bracket, and to make mine work, I had to cut and grind a considerable amount of metal off to get it to fit.
As well, I had to make a notch for the pump reservoir housing. It only took maybe two hours of effing around with a diamond cutter on my angle grinder and an 8" cutoff saw, though. The bracket is ridiculously beefy, and while I probably did weaken it considerably, it's still about ten times stronger than it needs to be to survive any severe impacts, let alone the ~50 lbs of tension from the belt.
- The Volvo bracket was absolutely incompatible with Mark's adapter, so I ultimately made spacers out of lots of stacked 3/8" washers, and mounted the pump directly to the adapter with the M10 bolts that came with the Volvo bracket. This also let me line the pump up with the crank and water pump pulleys.
- Mark's adjuster/tensioner bracket is presumably set up for the FJ40's crank pulley, which is fairly different from the FJ60's. I had to space it out around half an inch further from where it bolts on (with the water pump bolt, which I had to replace with a longer one; M10/fine pitch). I also needed to stack a couple of washers on the front of the pump where the tensioner bolt threads in, because the pump body was interfering with the tensioner.
- The stock high pressure line threaded directly into the special fitting that came pre-installed in the Volvo pump (which is threaded in, so I can take off and reuse it if and when I get a better Saginaw later on). It took a lot of muscle to get it tight, though; if I hadn't read of similar experience with the stock fitting, I would have been worried. I'd estimate I had to put about 30 ft/lbs on my open-ended 17mm wrench. On the other hand, it's a nice big flare fitting, and you don't want it to leak.
The angles are a bit weird, however (the hard line could be about a foot and a half shorter, for the new lower-than-stock location), so I'm probably going to get a new custom line made at some point.
- The stock low-pressure return line is slightly on the short side, but not to the point that it has any risk of kinking. I'll probably replace it too, before long, just to make things less messy down there.
First Impressions:
- It made absolutely horrible noises while it was getting all the air out of the system
- I had to add about 3/4 of a quart of fluid into the system, let it make the horrible noises, then add most of the remaining 1/4 quart to top it off once the air was clear
- Once the air was out, it started working better than my factory PS ever did, on its best day. I can literally steer with one finger now.
Final thoughts:
- If I had any welding gear, and if I knew how much grinding it would take to make Mark's bracket work, I probably would have just made an adapter to use the stock Smog bracket. Since I don't have welding gear, I'd probably do Mark's bracket again.
- Now I'm thinking about finding something to put where my factory PS was...maybe a York compressor for onboard air...
- If you're going to desmog, and have stock power steering that's wearing out, this is well worth the time and money.
Here's what my desmog/power steering repair cost me:
- $195ish for the power steering stuff
- $40 in plugs, vacuum hose, etc. for the desmog.
-- Total: $235ish (plus maybe $100 later on, if I wanted to get a new Saginaw pump)
Here's what it would cost if you kept the stock power steering and replaced the pump:
- $500 for a new OEM pump
- $40 for the plugs/vac hose/etc.
- $130 for a tensioner pulley (or devane your smog pump and lose the ability to sell it as a core for $75-100 depending on its condition)
-- Total: $540-670
And then you've still got a stock pump, which is going to be dodgy at best if you ever go bigger than 31" tires.
Here's what I got:
- used power steering pump from 1982 Volvo 240 ($50 shipped from Ebay; less than the core cost on most 'new' rebuilt ones!)
- Saginaw Mounting Bracket from Mark's Off Road (PN#122-21A, $65)
- Saginaw Adjustment Bracket from Mark's Off Road (PN#122-23, $25)
- 12mm x 1114mm v-belt ($25)
- A whole lot of metric hardware and washers
- A quart of ATF
Here's how I made it work:
- Mark's bracket is for an FJ40.
Unfortunately, the FJ60's motor mount interferes with the bracket, and to make mine work, I had to cut and grind a considerable amount of metal off to get it to fit.
As well, I had to make a notch for the pump reservoir housing. It only took maybe two hours of effing around with a diamond cutter on my angle grinder and an 8" cutoff saw, though. The bracket is ridiculously beefy, and while I probably did weaken it considerably, it's still about ten times stronger than it needs to be to survive any severe impacts, let alone the ~50 lbs of tension from the belt.
- The Volvo bracket was absolutely incompatible with Mark's adapter, so I ultimately made spacers out of lots of stacked 3/8" washers, and mounted the pump directly to the adapter with the M10 bolts that came with the Volvo bracket. This also let me line the pump up with the crank and water pump pulleys.
- Mark's adjuster/tensioner bracket is presumably set up for the FJ40's crank pulley, which is fairly different from the FJ60's. I had to space it out around half an inch further from where it bolts on (with the water pump bolt, which I had to replace with a longer one; M10/fine pitch). I also needed to stack a couple of washers on the front of the pump where the tensioner bolt threads in, because the pump body was interfering with the tensioner.
- The stock high pressure line threaded directly into the special fitting that came pre-installed in the Volvo pump (which is threaded in, so I can take off and reuse it if and when I get a better Saginaw later on). It took a lot of muscle to get it tight, though; if I hadn't read of similar experience with the stock fitting, I would have been worried. I'd estimate I had to put about 30 ft/lbs on my open-ended 17mm wrench. On the other hand, it's a nice big flare fitting, and you don't want it to leak.
The angles are a bit weird, however (the hard line could be about a foot and a half shorter, for the new lower-than-stock location), so I'm probably going to get a new custom line made at some point.
- The stock low-pressure return line is slightly on the short side, but not to the point that it has any risk of kinking. I'll probably replace it too, before long, just to make things less messy down there.
First Impressions:
- It made absolutely horrible noises while it was getting all the air out of the system
- I had to add about 3/4 of a quart of fluid into the system, let it make the horrible noises, then add most of the remaining 1/4 quart to top it off once the air was clear
- Once the air was out, it started working better than my factory PS ever did, on its best day. I can literally steer with one finger now.
Final thoughts:
- If I had any welding gear, and if I knew how much grinding it would take to make Mark's bracket work, I probably would have just made an adapter to use the stock Smog bracket. Since I don't have welding gear, I'd probably do Mark's bracket again.
- Now I'm thinking about finding something to put where my factory PS was...maybe a York compressor for onboard air...
- If you're going to desmog, and have stock power steering that's wearing out, this is well worth the time and money.
Here's what my desmog/power steering repair cost me:
- $195ish for the power steering stuff
- $40 in plugs, vacuum hose, etc. for the desmog.
-- Total: $235ish (plus maybe $100 later on, if I wanted to get a new Saginaw pump)
Here's what it would cost if you kept the stock power steering and replaced the pump:
- $500 for a new OEM pump
- $40 for the plugs/vac hose/etc.
- $130 for a tensioner pulley (or devane your smog pump and lose the ability to sell it as a core for $75-100 depending on its condition)
-- Total: $540-670
And then you've still got a stock pump, which is going to be dodgy at best if you ever go bigger than 31" tires.
