power steering pump mod and 99+intake info

so it's slow here at work, so i'm getting ready to do the power steering pump mod ( http://westtexasoffroad.homestead.com/powersteering.html ) on my XJ real quick since i gotta change my power steering fluid anyways.

i was wondering who here has done it, and how much you noticed it, and if anybody found/noticed any little differences or additional tricks to make some chances.


oh and on a side note. even though the power steering pumps for the 99+ with the newer style intake (which i will also be installing soon), are different part numbers, the pumps are essentially the same. no need for a new pump.

i think the only thing that might have to be done to the older pumps is to possibly clean out the 3 ears on the pump so they're straight through and not threaded.. but spacing and sizing is all the same.

I did the pump mod on my 98. You wont have the shim so you will have to use a small washer under the spring trick. From the looks of the spring cavity I didn't trust the washer in the valve body so I put a small washer between the small ball bearing plunger and the spring. I only tested it in the shop as of yet but I did basically the same redneck ram pump mod on a CJ and I could turn 36"s with no problems. It worked great on that and hope it helps the XJ half as much.

I tried this on my wifes jeep last weekend with out much luck. I put a washer under the spring and drilled out to 3/16". Felt great in the driveway, took it out on the road and would loose powersteering while turning on to side streets and doing u-turns. I ended up going to the junk yard and pulling a couple of regulators. The one I put back in was one with a washer on it. I pulled the washer off and drilled it out a little bit. Can't remember what size off hand but not as much as the 3/16th bit. This made a bit of improvement but not sure it was worth the trouble.
Now on the extra one that I have it also didn't have the washer in it. Rather than put in the washer under the spring I took it to the grinder and shortened it up a bit and put it back together. I am going to try this out on my jeep tomorrow or the next day. If I don't get what I want I will grind a little more off. It does the same thing as the washer, just puts more tension on the spring. Or it makes since to me anyways. I will just have to play with it a bit.
I'm not sure why my wifes jeep was loosing powersteering. I could not get the air out of it like that. I would bleed it and bleed it and let it sit and bleed and fill the res. If I would get it too full it would shoot fluid out from around the lid. I put the modified junk yard one in and didn't have any more problems.
Good luck with it and let us know how it goes if you do this.

i did mine last night real quick. took all of like 15minutes from start to finish.

i drilled the hole out a bit, and then realized i didn't have any washers that tiny (yes i didn't actually realize how small that thing was. i thought i'd have washers for it.). so i just strechted the big spring that sits under the first 2 parts to a lenght of about 2". so i just put everything back together for now until i get a washer.

at first i wasn't sure if there was any change in steering because i thought i was just making it up. but after driving it a while, i do believe that the steering seems to move smoother and easier.


i'm going to redo it again when i get the little washer.

i also want to take my wifes AGR hi flow pump apart and see if there are any little mods in there that might be usefull.

jwtrapper said:

Now on the extra one that I have it also didn't have the washer in it. Rather than put in the washer under the spring I took it to the grinder and shortened it up a bit and put it back together. I am going to try this out on my jeep tomorrow or the next day. If I don't get what I want I will grind a little more off. It does the same thing as the washer, just puts more tension on the spring. Or it makes since to me anyways. I will just have to play with it a bit.

Click to expand...

You missed the therory. You are not trying to shorten the spring you are tying to increase it's pressure. That spring and ball are a blow-off valve so the pump won't self explode. It pumps to a certain pressure and the pressure overcomes the spring and ball and bleeds down pressure to the desired level. The pumps on the newer ones are not as good as the old ones as far as taping into them for a hydrolic ram so I wouldn't drill the orifice out. That actually reduces pressure but increases flow. If you don't have a ram you don't need the extra flow. Basically you need to start with a stock setup and just add the washer to increase pressure.

I am increasing the spring pressure by shortening the housing. I have more control over shortening the housing than putting in a washer. You increase the pressure by taking space away with the placement of a washer in the bottom, just the same as shortening it. On the older ones you take a washer out so that you can screw the lid down tighter on the spring to increase pressure. On the newer one you can remove material from the top so that you can screw the lid down farther to increase the pressure on the spring.

Make since?????

Stumpalump said:

You missed the therory. You are not trying to shorten the spring you are tying to increase it's pressure. That spring and ball are a blow-off valve so the pump won't self explode. It pumps to a certain pressure and the pressure overcomes the spring and ball and bleeds down pressure to the desired level. The pumps on the newer ones are not as good as the old ones as far as taping into them for a hydrolic ram so I wouldn't drill the orifice out. That actually reduces pressure but increases flow. If you don't have a ram you don't need the extra flow. Basically you need to start with a stock setup and just add the washer to increase pressure.

Click to expand...

Cool! I thought you took the spring to the grinder. I'll try your trick if my one washer is not enough.

How are you bleeding the system? I always seem to make a mess and fluid shoots out of the lit, I always seem to have bubbles also.

As soon as I fix the ground I will be back on the road and give it a try.

Fix it fix it until you break it.

jwtrapper said:

How are you bleeding the system? I always seem to make a mess and fluid shoots out of the lit, I always seem to have bubbles also.

As soon as I fix the ground I will be back on the road and give it a try.

Fix it fix it until you break it.

Click to expand...

If you just do the valve spring mod only a half a shot glass drips out. But if you get a lot of air in it then fill it and with the engine off turn the wheel lock to lock a few times. Jack it up if you want. Then start it and let it idle and turn it lock to lock slow. You will eventually work the air out.

jwtrapper said:

I am increasing the spring pressure by shortening the housing. I have more control over shortening the housing than putting in a washer. You increase the pressure by taking space away with the placement of a washer in the bottom, just the same as shortening it. On the older ones you take a washer out so that you can screw the lid down tighter on the spring to increase pressure. On the newer one you can remove material from the top so that you can screw the lid down farther to increase the pressure on the spring.

Make since?????

Click to expand...

Let me know how that worked out!! I am interested in moding my pump too!:wave:

Worked out great!! Didn't have any problems on mine. I have an extra regulator we can drop in. Only took about 10 min at the most since I did the work on the regulator last weekend.