Replacing the power steering pump?

These are normally replaced by pulling off the old pulley and pressing it onto the new pump. The last option shown on the Rock Auto site is pressed on all the way. You can see the hub of the pulley is flush with the end of the shaft. That is too far for most applications.

There are two different spacers to use with the pressing tool. When doing this at the dealership, the pumps usually came with the correct spacer. Those force the tool to stop when the right pulley depth was reached. I always saved those spacers in case I needed one later.

When you don't have a spacer and one is needed, an easy work-around is to look in the center hole of the pulley's hub and observe the depth of the rust. That section was exposed previously. Press the pulley on part way, then remove the tool to see how much shiny area is still visible. Repeat that until you just reach the point where all the shiny area is covered with the pump's shaft.

This first photo shows just an installer. The narrow threaded end, (pink arrow) gets threaded into the pump's shaft. You hold the end, (blue arrow) with one wrench, then turn the pressing bearing assembly with another wrench, (red arrow). As shown, this setup will allow you to press the pulley all the way on until the end of the pulley's hub is flush with the end of the pump's shaft. For your application, this is too far.

One version of the pulling tool is shown in the second photo. This becomes much easier to understand when you have the pieces in your hand to look at. There's two pieces, (green arrows) that go around the hub of this tool and the lip on the front of the pulley's hub. The collar, (orange arrow), is just a short piece of pipe that holds those two pieces from falling off. They're showing the shaft of this tool already run in most of the way as it would look right after pulling the pulley off. We start with that screw backed off most of the way. The button on the end, (pink arrow), pushes on the pump's shaft. You hold the tool, like with the first tool, with a wrench on the end, (blue arrow), and turn the pulling assembly, (red arrow), with another wrench. The easiest way to visualize this is the two segments, (green arrows), hold the hub of the pulley, then when the threaded screw, (blue arrow) is run in, the button, (pink arrow), pushes the pump's shaft out of the pulley.

This same tool is used to reinstall the pulley. The collar and segments, (green and orange arrows), are set aside and not used. The button, (pink arrow), is pulled out and set aside too. It's held in with a rubber o-ring. A double-ended threaded stud is screwed into the end where the button was removed. There's multiple studs in the kits. Use the one that fits the threaded hole in the pump's shaft. Now it will look like the tool in the first photo. As you turn the bearing assembly, the threaded stud will pull the pump's shaft into the pulley's hub. The spacer needed for your application is slid onto the fatter threaded part of the tool, right under the silver bearing assembly. That spacer will contact the end of the pump's shaft just when the correct depth is reached, and it will prevent you from pressing the pulley on too far.

The third photo shows the entire kit. The yellow arrow is pointing to one of those double-ended studs. The silver washers are those spacers needed for your application. The fourth photo just shows another version of this kit. You can usually find this tool kit at an auto parts store that rents or borrows tools. In my city, they make you buy the tool, then you get a full refund when you return it. If you choose to keep a tool, you still return it then they give or order you a brand new one.

If you bought the pump with the pulley already pressed on this far, you'll need to use one of these tools to pull it part way off, (1/4" will be plenty), then push it back on with the spacer on the tool. If you reused your original pulley, you still need to pull it off part way, but you can use the rust as a guide to know how far to press it back on. Press it on a little, then recheck the pulley to see if any shiny section is still visible. Press a little more repeatedly just until the shiny section is no longer visible. 1/16" misalignment is enough to set up a belt squeal.

Chrysler has always been known for great parts interchangeability, and that includes power steering pumps, so rather than make multiple different versions that can't be interchanged, they do it this way by making minor modifications to an existing part, when needed. By setting the pulley to the appropriate depth, one pump can be used with a lot of different models, years, and engine sizes.

One word of warning if you choose to buy this tool kit. It pays to get a high-quality set, such as those sold by the people who visit the shops each week with their tool trucks. It takes a lot of force to move these pulleys. I broke the double-ended pulling studs more than once by pulling them apart. The kits from Mac, Matco, and Snapon have a lifetime warranty, so those parts get replaced for free.

No, don't turn it around. It can physically be pressed on that way, but then there's no lip on the hub to pull that pulley off next time.

That hub is about 3/4" deep, so if it was flush on the front when you got it, and it fell off now, you pulled it back too far. The maximum difference between the various applications is less than 1/4".

One of two things has likely happened. Either the new pump was mounted incorrectly onto the engine, which is pretty doubtful, or they sent you the wrong part. We just finished up with another problem where the rebuilder packaged and labeled a master cylinder for the wrong application, and believe it or not, it didn't fit.

You didn't tell me if the new pump came with the pulley already installed or if you transferred the pulley from the old pump. If you have the old pump yet, compare the length of the shafts on both of them. Also look at the location of the mounting holes. Normally, when Chrysler has two similar parts that look the same but don't interchange, they'll do something radically different, such as reposition those mounting holes, to ensure the wrong part doesn't get installed.

If the pulley still is in too far in after you pulled it back a good 1/4", you are correct that it is not going to work that way. If this new pump came with the pulley already on it, look at the number of ribs to see if they match the old belt. If the numbers are different, it is definitely the wrong pump.

On a lot of other brands and models there will be another bracket or metal flange of some mounting assembly that slips behind the part being replaced. Sometimes it's possible to swivel them out of the way, or they drop down on their own, then get overlooked. That will set the new assembly back too close to the engine, but it usually also causes that new part to sit at an angle. That angle can easily be too slight to see at first. You have to sight closely along the front edges of all the pulleys, or use a straightedge to identify that. Once in a while there was also a spacer, like a stack of pennies that fell out and got overlooked.

If nothing becomes apparent by this time, consider measuring from the front of the new pump's shaft to something solid, like a spot on the inner fender, then reinstall the original pump and take that same measurement. We can accept a little difference, but if the old one's shaft is a lot closer to the inner fender, we know something is wrong.

Same as before; this is either the wrong pump or something is wrong in the mounting of it. I would be mildly disappointed if I was expected to adjust the depth of the pulley to meet the application, but even if that happened, it should not need to be pulled out more than 1/4".

At this point I would visit a pick-your-own-parts salvage yard to see what the pulley looks like on a similar model. These yards are popping up all over, but my favorite is "Pull-A-Part". Their yards are very clean and extremely well-organized. There's at least two dozen around the eastern part of the country. I've been to 16 of them. You can do an internet search to see which ones have models like yours, but they can't tell you colors, options, or what is broken or already removed.

Were you able to compare the new and original pumps? I saw your new question about the plastic pulley. The material shouldn't matter, but I suspect the dimensions will be the same. I'll leave your new question to the other experts so we can get another opinion involved. Consider adding a follow-up with more details like you did here. That will narrow the field down to another expert who specializes in Steering and Alignment.

Hi,

I noticed we haven't been in contact with you for a couple of days. Have you been able to make any progress? I do have a question. You indicated the new pump came with the pulley already installed. There is a good chance the wrong part was provided.

By chance, could you take a couple of pictures of what you are dealing with and upload them for me to see? I may be able to recognize the problem.

Let me know.

Joe