Well, finally got around to doing the daughters power steering pump on her 2005 4.2L. Went reasonably well, had a few hang ups because I'm not well versed in PS pump details. Wasted 2 teflon rings making sure everything was sealed up nicely but no big deal. Hardest part was r&r of the pulley itself as I did that in-vehicle. Just took a ton of torque on small wrenches in confined space. Eventually pulled the rad fan shroud during install to make room for a bigger wrench on part of the install tool (which, naturally, resulted in sudden failure of the harbor freight install tool).

Anyways, threaded install adaptor snapped off inside the pump shaft with about 1/8inch remaining to press it on. Can't really blame the tool though as I was REALLY cranking on it (think moly paste for lube, 30in breaker and two hands on a 12in adjustable wrench). Wiped the shaft and pulley clean prior to install but retrospectively maybe I should have hit the I.D. with some sandpaper first. I can fault the HF installer for a poor thrust bearing, though. Basically just indexed itself early on in the process.

Anyways, pump and pulley are smooth and silent, though I need to bleed the system better still. How bad is 1/8inch mis-alignment?

 

That will chew up the serpentine belt rather quickly.


you have a missing something some where. it should line up perfectly. A mis-alignment is an indicator of incorrect part or missing spacer.

 

Yup, ran it for a minute or two and watched the belt climb up the side of the crank pulley. Got lucky, though. The stud which had sheared off in the pump shaft worked loose on its own so I just popped the pulley off for a fresh install. A light sanding of the I.D. and a light coating of grease and it pressed on no problems.

Napa reman pump is a little bit whiny- I think. Could just be the high performance 4.2L V6 though.

 

' Could just be the high performance 4.2L V6 though'


LOL. I hear that, brother. I recommend the use of Valvoline Max Life Dex Merc in the power steering reservoir and I change mine yearly. I use a vacuum pump to empty the reservoir then just refill it. Always check that damn reservoir cap - remember it has to index, then turn to lock, not just snap on.