I'm a bonehead, but still have a question

So, found a cut in my power steering line...the pressurized one that goes from the top of the power steering pump to the gear box. Got the top nut undone in no time flat.

Started to undo the bottom nut, but was having trouble accessing it with the coolant hose in the way.

(Here comes my bonehead move) :looser:

So, I unhook the hose and proceed to dump all my coolant out of the radiator.

So I get all that cleaned up, shake my head at my boneheadedness, then set to work on the power steering hose.

This brings me to my question....what the hell size wrench do I need to break those loose? I tried the 11/32 and it is a hair to small. I tried the 3/4 and it is way to big. What am I missing?

Thanks

I think you're missing the 18 mm. wrench. Remember the XJ is a metric vehicle except for the brakes. There is no commonly made SAE size for this, which is approximately 23/32. Many sets don't come with an 18, though it's become more common in recent years, and ubiquitous on Jeeps. So get an 18 mm. combination wrench and an 18 mm. socket as soon as you can.

I wouldn't say that dumping our your coolant was a bonehead move. It's cheap, easy to clean up, and probably could have used changing anyways. You just forced yourself to fill 'er up. Good luck with the line repair.

I just replaced my steering gear box, I found removing the return line first gave better access to the pressure line. I didn't remove the coolant hose and had plenty of room with the air filter box out of the way. I also used an 18mm flare nut wrench to get a much more secure grip as they are stuck on pretty well. It's slow going maybe 1/3rd of a turn at a time though, I need ratcheting flare nut wrenches...

After all that I found that both lines are now leaking at the fitting. The rubber o-rings were totally shot of course and I should have checked before re-installing. Napa has new lines cheap though.

I just cut the metal tubing just above the fitting then use a deep well #18 socket to break it loose. I use a crow-foot to tighten the new hose down with.

The power steering hoses are not easy to get by any means

What are the odds.. this happened to me yesterday! Took it out for a little four wheeling (first time for my jeep since I've owned it) and after a little bit of playing I noticed my power steering pump was whining. Check under the hood, when turning the wheels there are 2 spots in the same line the fluid is spraying out of. Was going to use this as an excuse for a full-PS upgrade, but I decided w/ other issues at hand... I'll just replace the lines till the pump goes out

DezertTitan said:

What are the odds.. this happened to me yesterday! Took it out for a little four wheeling (first time for my jeep since I've owned it) and after a little bit of playing I noticed my power steering pump was whining. Check under the hood, when turning the wheels there are 2 spots in the same line the fluid is spraying out of. Was going to use this as an excuse for a full-PS upgrade, but I decided w/ other issues at hand... I'll just replace the lines till the pump goes out

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The stock pumps are tough so it will be a while. My trail rig has 180k on it with the original pump. I drove it 10hours on the highway with no fluid at 65mph to limp home after i bought the Jeep and picked it up on the eastern shore of MD. i had a spare pump so I wasn't too concerned if it went. I replaced the lines, filled with new fluid and bled. That was 4 years/20k ago, still going and no whine:cheers: