Durango box swap, now pump issues??

Hi Guys, I swapped a 99 Durango steering box into my 91 yesterday and the swap went pretty well.

BUT... Now it seems I am goving the stoxk xj pump a fit. Streering effort and motion is good, but the pump howls and groans like it is low on fluid, which it is not. Any ideas?? I was thinking it seems like the pump is working too hard to turn the larger Durango box.

Anybody have any information on the output press or capacity of the Xj pump vs the Durango pump??

BTW for those of you comtemplating the swap. Do it!! it's a direct bolt in!! And the Durango box is obviously bigger=stronger!

Turning the steering wheel lock-to-lock several times will remove any unwanted air in the lines, box and pump. Keep the cap off and prepare to add more fluid. If it just noisy, that should fix it.

Oh I see, Ok I'll give it a shot, cause I know that box was stark ass empty. Thanks!!:thumbup:

It's probably just air. Most people don't bleed the PS systems well enough and it just stays noisy forever until the pump goes bad. It's easier if you jack up the front wheels. I just did a new pump yesterday. I turned the wheel lock to lock 10 times, checked the fluid, waited for the bubbles to clear (about 5 minutes), then did it again. I did this about 4 or 5 times until it looked like no more bubbles were showing in the tank.

You need to get all the air out of the system. Pop the drag link off the pitman arm, start the engine, and turn the steering wheel back and forth with no load. Move the wheel to one side and leave it there, move to the other side and leave it, rotate back and forth, leave it alone, etc. Make sure to keep the reservoir full of fluid during this period since fluid level will drop as air is displaced. It can take quite a while to get the fluid everywhere. After you are able to turn lock-to-lock and only get some whining at the extreme ends you should let it set with he engine off so bubbles in the reservoir can work themselves out. Once the fluid is cycling clear you can start driving it, and eventually the final bit of whining should go away.

yep, get the air out

That seems to have been the culprit guys.. I thought for sure I jacked the pump up somehow.

I cycled the pump over and over and then let it set and repeated.. all gone but a little noise at the ends of travel like usual. Man what a difference that box made as opposed to my beat down XJ box!

Thanks for the help!!

When I put in my durango box I bled it and bled it and got the air out. The Durnago box had some nasty fluid in it I guess and it killed my pump on our trip out to Arizona. I didn't make 60 miles before it was making lots of noise. We stoped and flushed the system with some new fluid. Made it from Salida to Durango and found a pump in a junk yard and swaped them out at the yard. Haven't had a problem with it since. I do think that it needs a cooler to make things last longer though.

Yup, a pump is on my list already anyhow. I'm replacing everything in this truck except the horn! it has 228k and has been driven into the ground, so I'm not sure if the pump has 5 years or 5 minutes left on it anyway.

Besides, don't you know it, I get the whole thing back together and now the stupid reservoir starts leaking. So I fixed one PS leak but now I have another... and the chain goes on!!