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Grand Wagoneer Steering Pump Fiasco (Part II)

Last winter, I experienced some very sloppy steering in my 1987 Grand Wagoneer, and upon investigation, discovered one arm of the PS pump mounting bracket cracked completely through.

I was fortunate enough to find a replacement bracket at my used Jeep specialty shop here in Spokane replaced the bracket. It is worth noting that the replacement bracket was used, but showed no signs of cracks or excessive wear or stress.

Since winter I have put no more than 200 miles on the Jeep. I was never totally satisfied with the "feel" of the steering, as despite properly tight belts and everything appearing to be normal, the steering was still slightly jerky on slow tight turns and just felt a little "off" (subjective, I know, but I can't really describe the feeling other than it wasn't what I have become accustomed to over twenty years and three Grand Wagoneers.)

This morning, I started to prepare for a long back-country trip, and was parking (and making a tight turn) when I heard a loud "snap" followed by the sound of something striking the fan. I immediately shut down and opened the hood to find that BOTH arms of the PS pump bracket had failed. These are fairly thick castings, but of course hydraulic pressure is significant too, but I cannot figure out why this happened.

Are the PS brackets on Wagoneers a failure-prone item? Obviously they are on this one.

Any insights, information or suggestions would be very much appreciated, along with any suggestion on where to find this part. It seems to be scarce, and I am beginning to think the reason is high failure rate of the part.

Reply to
randallbrink
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Shouldn't be any hydraulic pressure there, the pump turns fairly easily. I'm not a fan of cast parts.

Got me on that one. Usually it's where the box mounts to the frame that brakes, not the pump bracket. Could be anything including a defect in the original part. Is it possible to fabricate one out of steel?

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..erm.. OW!.. Even if it wouldfit.

Reply to
DougW

brakes, not the pump bracket. Could be anything including

Reply to
RoyJ

One comment about fabrication. If the original unit can be JB-Welded back into proper shape you can use it to build a jig for making the steel replacement.

Once you do that you can make many more and go into buisness. :)

Reply to
DougW

t brakes, not the pump bracket. =A0Could be anything including

Fabricating this cast part out of steel makes perfect sense to me. I believe I will take it out and see if I could have that done at a local fabricating shop.

Still, I am mystified as to why there would be so much torque on that mount. The pump, reservoir and pully ARE at a bracket and would therefore have considerable leverage, if there was a moment of strain foward against the mount due to the belt tension. But these are two big 1/4" castings, and it is difficult to see why they would be made of cast aluminum if there were that much stress on the part.

At any rate, I certainly appreciate the reply and I will look into making a steel casting or a milled part to replace the broken one.

Reply to
randallbrink

I normally repair these by brazing the iron casting, add in a few gusset plates to stress points that seem to be the main failure modes. The braze material flows into the casting pores, gives nice fillets, is stronger than the original casting.

As for the jig to build a dozen or so.............. well ...... ok ....... lotta work!!!!!

DougW wrote:

Reply to
RoyJ

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