Too much power steering

[boomer431]

My M1009 has had an odd problem ever since I got it. When driving down the road it appears to have too much ps pressure. When you go to make a steering correction it just responds too quickly. At a dead stop you can turn the wheel with one finger with very little effort. The other two trucks I have had don't do this. It has been aligned , new tie rod ends, new drag link, new steering box and wheel bearings. I am thinking about swapping out the spool valve and spring from the power steering pump.Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this.

 

[ranchhopper]

I have a truck like yours its very hard to drive there is nothing worn on the linkage I checked. My wife wont even drive it everytime she steers she over corrects it looks like a drunk going down the road.

 

[91W350]

The relief valve must be stuck or have the wrong spring. Instead of bleeding the excess back into the tank it is hyper pressurizing the hydraulics. I am not sure how the newer pumps are set up, but we used to stretch the old springs to get more pressure for large tires or use a low tension spring in cars for more road feel. Glen

 

[ODdave]

When you turn the wheel while driving will it keep turning all the way to lock without your effort?

Are the brakes abnormaly easy to push,little effort needed to stop?

 

[reloader64]

Every old Chevy I've owned (and there have been several) has had extremely easy power steering. I thought it was normal.

Scott

 

[Dave Kay]

Every old Chevy I've owned (and there have been several) has had extremely easy power steering. I thought it was normal.

Scott

Agreed--- this problem I've never encountered and never heard of before. Are you seeing leaks from the PS box/pump?

My 1008 does something unusual; if I turn the steering wheel from lock to lock while vehicle is rolling, when I apply the brakes the pedal goes WAY LOW before coming back up to normal, then after that no more low pedal. Anyone experience that?

 

[boomer431]

Brakes feel normal and the wheel does not continue to turn. No leaks from ps.New tires also. On a curvey road at say 45 it just seems to overcorrect. Its kind of hard to explain . It acts like the late model GM trucks when the steering sensor goes bad and boosts the ps pressure . I am going to swap the fitting , spring and spool valve and let you know the results. I htought this was normal too, but I have driven three others and they definitly are different.

 

[Dave Kay]

The question I have is what lurks inside your front hubs, suspension, et., al.,...

1. Condition of your tie-rods?

2. Condition of ball joints?

3. Wheel bearing adjustment?

4. What about the worm-gear-shaft adjustment on the steering box itself? High mileage steering box maybe?

5. Recommended tire pressure? Different type of tires in front than the rear?

I'm getting this stuff right from the GM service manual so it's kind of elementary questions attempting to eliminate typical and obvious problems.

Check this out too: I had an old '77 Chevy C20 that had road noise and vibration at speeds and after looking over all kinds of possibilities we were eventually stumped and just gave up. Then by pure accident, one day I had the truck rear-end jacked up on stands and put it in gear to spin the back wheels (do no do this at home) and was trying to listen for sounds when I see the right rear wheel turning real nice like with about an inch run-out! DOAH--- a bent wheel~!!!!!

Anyway, wish you luck in solving this and DO keep us posted.

 

[jimmy-90]

A long time ago I had a 1977 blazer that had a power steering pump like that. I could turn the steering wheel from stop to stop with one finger sitting still with 33X12" tires and that thing had a pretty small aftermarket steering wheel on top of that. I thought that was what a strong power steering pump in good shape was supposed to feel like but one day it sprang a really bad leak and squirted fluid all over everything under the hood. I was glad the fluid didn't hit the exhaust headers and burst into flames. Honestly I wish my cucv would steer like that so I would have an easier time backing up trailers. The one in my cucv is kinda week.

 

[DieselJunkie]

My M1009 steers with one finger i thought it was normal. I love it that way I just learned how to not over correct. I like my steering how I like my jobs EASY

 

[panzerwillie]

I had two trucks with the same problems not CUCV but a 03 EXCURSION with a 6.0 PWS and it turn out to be the steering gearbox, never got to take the old steering box apart to look in to it, but got fix with another use steering gear box, the other is my 94 dodge cummins, it has a rebuild sterring gear box from dodge and it began doing that about a year ago, have not look in to it cause i dont drive it every day as i use my M1009 as a DD, however all this trucks have vacum assist brakes so the PWS pump its reladed to the steering the CUCV as you know have hydralic brakes not sure if the pressure valves in the system besides the one in the pump, but pass experience point to the steering box, we have 3 CUCV in the family and they all feel the same feel firm on the steering wheel hope this helps good luck..

 

[T. Highway]

I would have to agree with the post above.

I would check how many turns you have from lock to lock in the steering wheel.
I rebuilt a 67 Camaro that had a 4.5 turn steering box, when it failed I replaced it with a 69 Camaro box and found out it was a 2.3 turn box. It was very sensitive to steering wheel movement. I did go back to a 4.5 turn box for safety reasons.


Dave Kay,
I have had the same problem on Diesel F350s, if your turning the steering wheel and brake pedal gets weird it's the power steering pump failing.