New Power steering pump
Ran out of excuses. Tired of the What the?? stares when I crank her over. So new pump it is!! BTW this is for 2002- Get your new pump and pulley-puller first, along with a bottle of PS fluid. Works best when engine and beer are cold.
Remove as much fluid from the resivoir as possible. Use a "mighty vac" or turkey baster-your choice. Remove the front grill (4 screws) and radiator upper crossmember (6 screws?) Remove the fan power connector- slide the red tab out first- be patient- open first beer. Remove fan(2 screws) and slide it carefully past the upper radiator hose. Use socket wrench on the belt tensioner to remove the drive belt. Disconnect the hi-side power steering hose. Be prepared with some shop towels or even a drain cup to catch the remining fluid. Remove the return hose to pump. Remove three screws holding the PS pump. Access is through the pump pulley. Remove pulley from old pump. My pulley kit was a free loaner from Checker, worked fine, removal is easy-pressing old pully on new pump is the most difficult. Wished they sold the new pump with a pully already on---open second beer.... Connect low-side return hose first and then re-install new pump. Torque setting is 35 ft-Ft-LB's. Re-connect hi-side hose-not too tight- only 21 ft-lbs. Re-install fan and radiator crossmember and drive belt. Ad PS fluid to the cold full mark, raise the front wheels off the ground and slowly turn the wheels -lock to -lock , left and right about 10-20 times, adding PS fluid as neccessary. Lower the Jeep-Start the engine, check for leaks, and once or twice more- run the wheels far left and right, only lightly stopping at the end points.
Cold start-up today was quiet today. Finally! Low speed steering is improved and now I can once again accept passengers.
