Boosting Your Power Steering Pump

Oct. 01, 2005 By Jim Weed

In 1980 I put a Detroit Locker in the front of my Scout! I loved it and was able to impress a lot of people with my Scouts 4-Wheeling ability (this was before lockers were common knowledge). My only complaint was that my Scout was difficult to steer when pointed down hill. Well Everette France and I decided to try boosting the power steering pump.

We Started by removing the pump from the Scout and setting it on the work bench. First you will need to remove the Large nut that the high pressure hose screws into ( The high pressure hose is the one without the hose clamps). Behind this nut is a cartridge

cartridge picture

(part #6 in picture below) and a large spring (part #5 in picture below). Set the spring and nut off to the side as these will be reinstalled after the cartridge is modified.

Clamp the cartridge in a vise and remove the small nut (be careful to not loose any parts!). Inside you will find a small spring, a BB, and a seat with a short stem. This cartridge is your high pressure bypass. What you want is for more pressure to go through the steering box before bypassing back to the reservoir. You will need to find two small washers (#4 machine washers) to fit in the bottom of the cartridge. These washers will shim up the small spring making it stiffer, hence more pressure. Note: as a precautionary measure you will want to remove about an 1/8" off the stem part (the part that fits into the center of the small spring) of the seat. If you do not remove this you risk jamming the bypass shut. This will cause you to blow out a hose or a seal. Now reassemble the cartridge and install it in the pump the same way it came apart. Install the pump and hookup all hoses and belts. Congratulation your done! You should have Cadillac steering.

 

 


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