By 1998 Mike Boyd
Wide tires and serious off-road
driving place tremendous demands on all of the steering components. Not
the least of these is the power steering pump. Sherm's Bronco is running
36"X14.5 Super Swampers that required very high performance power
steering. On a Rubicon trip in 1997, his power steeringpump boiled over and blew the dipstick and fluid out of
the pump.
I looked at the Saginaw conversion and found
that the pressures, particularly at low RPM, were not as great as the current
Ford power steering pumps. It is more compact than the Saginaw unit, is
readily available, and bolts directly up to the serpentine bracket.
To combat the heat developed in heavy off-road
applications, I felt that more cooling was required than to simply install a
pump, I used the inner automatic transmission cooler found in all automatic
radiators. I also located a 1990 Ford Taurus 24-finned transmission
cooler. I also used braided line to
connect all of the power steering pump components. I used a 1992 Ford
F-150 high pressure hose that fit perfectly in the Bronco.
After the Ford power steering pump was
installed, I routed the return line from the power steering pump into the inner
automatic transmission cooler with braided line, from that point I used braided
line to connect to the finned cooler. The finned cooler was then connected
to the power steering box with more braided line. A single cooler might
not operate under the extreme off-road conditions where I wanted it to
perform.
The Ford pump has a very large opening to the
reservoir and can be easily filled on the
trail. It also has a bleed hole in the cap. The cap is secured by
locking with a quarter turn of the cap. These pumps are used on everything
from Lincoln Continental, the Escort, to the F-250 pickup. This pump and
coolers hold a quart and a half of ATF. When driving the Bronco off-road,
the finned cooler was lukewarm.
Before using this, or any other high pressure
power steering pump, reseal used power steering box, to prevent leakage from the
sector shaft and worm gear shaft.
Glossary
Body, Bed, and Appearance
Bronco Steering & Suspension
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8-3-2004