Power steering

Lately my power steering has been cutting out, but only when Im exiting the freeway and am turning a corner at the same time. It doesnt do it all the time, is very random, and the jeep is still running with everything working. Am I correct in thinking that the PS pump is just belt driven and if everything is running fine otherwise it should be working, thus its probably my steering gear box? I checked the fluid level and all is good. Oh, its an 87 4.0.

Thanks

What do you mean by "cutting out"?

Could be worn vanes in your pump. With the engine at idle/decel it'll put out less pressure. I have a '98 and I can feel a difference during the same maneuvers you are describing.

How would the system know you are pulling on the freeway other than rpm's. Try accellerating in a lower gear and see if it happens then. Actually I would try tightening the belt some. They can slip without squeeling.

My Wife's Bronco had a symptom similar to what you describe. The steering would become difficult and then just free up to normal. In an internittent fashion.

I drained all of the fluid from the reservoir and installed a filter on the return line.

Then started flushing the system.

Three filters later and well over two quarts of fluid....

All is well again. The fluid, when I took the initial sample looked/felt gritty. My guess was that the debris was partially blocking ports in the system resulting in a loss of fluid delivery.

How she managed to get the junk into the system is one of the great mysteries in life.

I'd had an issue on my '98 several years ago where the box would lock up solid out of the blue while trying to turn the wheels straight from a right hand turn. A now former Jeep dealer ended up replacing the box after Carmax changed out the pump....twice:smsoap: The last pump they put on is dieing, as the steering is about as firm as possible while still having some assistance.

So I took it in to a local shop today to have the steering looked at..they said I needed a new steering gear box, and track bar, along with some other stuff they wanted to replace that really just needs to be tightend. Anyways, apparently the bushing is bad on the track bar (probably just get an adjustable one and be done with it)...and correct me if im wrong, but when you turn the steering wheel the pitman arm and shaft arent supposed to move side to side before the tires start to turn...right?

Do you mean that the shaft and arm are walking or wobbling around before the wheels start to move in the intended direction? If that's the case, you could most likely have a bad box then too. How many miles does your truck have on it?

Yes sir, thats exactly what I mean. As for miles, its got about 192k on it. Im thinkin about doing the durango upgrade, but cant decide on whether to spend the 200 and buy a new one that comes with a lifetime warranty, or head to the jy and pull one for 50 bucks. Hmmmm, decisions decisions.