.....and promptly lost my power steering. The trek was a lot of fun and we went through several muddy trails and creeks just having a good time. The truck was working well, but it did get a few dings and dents along the rocker line. No problem though -- it's a beater old truck with a home brew paint job, and I'm not worried about it.
I started having PS problems toward the end of the run and I noticed increased noise. Long story short I got it home expecting to replace the PS pump, but after further inspection it turned out to be a corroded PS line.
The PS lines are rubber sleeved at two points across the front cross member, and under those sleeves rust and corrosion eat away at the lines. This line has a pinhole leak.
To make matter worse, while taking off the 10mm bracket bolt, my 10mm SK 1/4" drive socket bit the dust.
The line was toast so I cut it with a body saw and split it to add a piece of high pressure hose. It's a Rube Goldberg fix, but you just can't get these lines anymore from a local supplier. They are very hard to come by and until a find a new set, the high pressure hose fix will have to do.
I eliminated the rusted holding brackets and spliced in a piece of 5/16" hydraulic hose. It will do until I can track down a set of new lines for this old warhorse.
I refilled and bled the system and it works pretty well. At least this way I can go back out on the trail over the coming holiday weekend.
