Stiff saginaw steering

[trona]

Hey there all
I recently have been experiencing an unusual problem with my steering.
After driving for ten to fifteen minutes or so especially at highway speed my steering becomes stiff. If I stop the truck for a short while the problem go's away. There is no pump noise the fluid level
seems fine and there is no air bubbles in the reservoir.
I have a Saginaw pump with a 4 turn box and a 1 inch ram.
I have drilled out the orifice to increase the performance at idle.
The line has a 3 foot finned copper tube and a filter on the return.
This setup has worked fine for abut 6 months.

Any thoughts on where I should start to trouble shoot?
Thanks Dave

 

[trona]

Anybody?

 

[JasonH]

After driving for ten to fifteen minutes or so especially at highway speed my steering becomes stiff. If I stop the truck for a short while the problem go's away.

OK, I'll take a stab at it. Perhaps you're getting cavitation in the pump at higher rpm's. Maybe a larger pulley will help?

 

[Tapage]

OK, I'll take a stab at it. Perhaps you're getting cavitation in the pump at higher rpm's. Maybe a larger pulley will help?

what he said ^^^^ plus did you have PS oil cooler .. or ever check your PS oil temp ?

 

[trona]

Thanks for the thoughts. i will look into the cavitation thing though the system used to work fine and now I am experiencing this new problem.
My first repair will be to put a new filter on it and then a new pump and will see if that solves it.
Thx again

 

[camcruiser13]

why a filter on your ps?
could be blocking flow if clogged


also second the idea of a cooler