I need to replace the steering pump on my 98 Dakota V6. I have a gear pulle r and think I should be able to remove the pulley but my concern it pressin g the pulley onto the new pump. The pump seems rather flimsy and I am afrai d of crushing it when installing the pulley. I would appreciate your though ts.
Thanks, John
Not familiar with the '98 in particular, but:
Normally a power steering pump has an internally threaded shaft. The intent here is you put a nut and a washer on a bolt. You thread the bolt into the shaft (the washer is between the shaft and the nut). Then you turn the nut to press the pulley onto the shaft. You're never pressing on the pump body.
That said, I took a look at an '05 FSM I have on hand, and it warns that the pulley is not intended to be reused; if you change pumps you need to replace the pulley as well. I don't know if that's also the case for the '98.
A suggestion: buy a Factory Service Manual. That way you'll have the factory recommendations for these things.
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