67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

[Gary S.]

I added an after-market power steering kit to my 67 350 hp convertible. I bought it used but only had 200 miles on it. Looks great, no leaks...but no power steering. When driving down the road, it pulls hard one way and then maybe the other way and sometimes goes straight. It changes constantly. Once in awhile it feels like PS but most the time it feels like manual steering. I have done every bleeding method I could find on the internet. The nut on the control valve will turn the wheels right and left. I have been playing with the balance nut, but little help. In the past I rebuilt a PS pump and assembled the entire PS setup on a 67 body off resto and had no problems with bleeding, balancing or anything. I am wondering if maybe one of the rebuilt parts was not rebuilt correctly. Anyone have any recommendations.
Thanks .....Gary

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

I added an after-market power steering kit to my 67 350 hp convertible. I bought it used but only had 200 miles on it. Looks great, no leaks...but no power steering. When driving down the road, it pulls hard one way and then maybe the other way and sometimes goes straight. It changes constantly. Once in awhile it feels like PS but most the time it feels like manual steering. I have done every bleeding method I could find on the internet. The nut on the control valve will turn the wheels right and left. I have been playing with the balance nut, but little help. In the past I rebuilt a PS pump and assembled the entire PS setup on a 67 body off resto and had no problems with bleeding, balancing or anything. I am wondering if maybe one of the rebuilt parts was not rebuilt correctly. Anyone have any recommendations.
Thanks .....Gary

Gary------

1) Are you sure the extend and retract lines are properly connected from the valve to the cylinder?

2) Otherwise, I'd say you need to replace the valve, preferably one that has been rebuilt and balanced off the car on a flow bench.

[Gerard F.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Gary,

Two things to check:

1. Are the steering rods connected to the inner lugs on the spindle. The outer lugs on the spindle are for manual steering, the inner ones for power steering.

2. Did the used kit come with a replacement pitman arm. Power steering uses a different pitman arm than manual steering.

When I put on a power steering kit on my 67/300, I made the mistake of using the outer (manual steering) lugs on the spindle assembly. The result was that the steering was very erratic at high speed and slight turns, like it had a mind of it's own. Changing the position of the lugs on the spindle solved the problem.

Also, I found that the 67 power steering is really only power assisted steering. The power part only kicks in after a certain degree change of the steering wheel, I forget the degrees.

See the third archived post below.

Hope this helps,

[Gary S.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Joe and Jerry,

Jerry, I did use the drop down pitman arm used on PS cars. And I did change the tie rods to the inner holes on the steering spindles.

Here is a picture of my slave cylinder and the valve hose hook-ups. Correct?

Much appreciated,

Gary
PowerSteeringValveSlave67#19567.JPG

[Scott P.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Gary, I believe the relief valve in the punp is sticking or in backwards. Pull the Large nut where the high pressure lines attaches and take the relief valve out, watching its orientation. Maybe the spring that goes in front of it is missing. Check it against your shop manual. Scott

[Gary S.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Gary, I believe the relief valve in the punp is sticking or in backwards. Pull the Large nut where the high pressure lines attaches and take the relief valve out, watching its orientation. Maybe the spring that goes in front of it is missing. Check it against your shop manual. Scott

Scott,

I have heard of that happening before and it crossed my mind. I also wondered about the valve rebuild too. But, before I took all that oily stuff apart, I thought I would get some opinions. There is always at least one NCRS member that has had a similar experience with any issue it seems. I will try that.

Thanks...Gary

[Gerard F.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Joe and Jerry,

Jerry, I did use the drop down pitman arm used on PS cars. And I did change the tie rods to the inner holes on the steering spindles.

Here is a picture of my slave cylinder and the valve hose hook-ups. Correct?

Much appreciated,

Gary
[ATTACH=CONFIG]38687[/ATTACH]

Gary,

I think I see the problem. Here's a picture of mine:






I think you have the two hoses between the valve and ram reversed. The upper one in yours looks like it would get kinked, and lower one looks like it has a rub on the bottom.

Not sure mine is right, but the steering works just fine. Only the steering leaks when it is sitting, as you'll see in the photo.

Gary, if this is the answer to your problem, you are probably going to owe me a few drinks in San Diego for getting under the car this late at night.

Addendum: Also take a look at the orientation between your hose lines between the pump and the valve and compare them to the AIM. As I remember, there was a certain orientation and cross of the lines to prevent kinking and rubbing of the lines against the frame or engine.

Have fun,

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Joe and Jerry,

Jerry, I did use the drop down pitman arm used on PS cars. And I did change the tie rods to the inner holes on the steering spindles.

Here is a picture of my slave cylinder and the valve hose hook-ups. Correct?

Much appreciated,

Gary
[ATTACH=CONFIG]38687[/ATTACH]

Gary------

The extend and retract hoses are properly connected. I do note, though, that this set-up is using the same configuration hose for both the extend and retract. That is not correct and is partly the reason for the "kink" in the extend hose.The extend hose is supposed to have a smaller radius of the tube section than the retract hose. On your hoses, the tube section of both hoses appears to have the same radius. Some of the kits do supply the same hose for both but it's incorrect. I doubt that this is the cause of your functional problem, though.

[Timothy B.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Gary,

There is a valve balancing procedure in the 1963 service manual that may help and I think it's described in the archives. Try that first and if it's still not good then take the valve apart and double check that the parts are correctly assembled.

I believe it's possible to install some parts upside down so keep this in mind, I think there is a picture of the valve in the 63 shop manual. Could you have a restriction in a used hose, keep that in mind. If the valve checks out the pump would be suspect next.

[Gerard F.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Gary,

If the valve checks out and you are still having problems, check the orientation of the hoses between the pump and the valve. There is a diagram of the angle of the high pressure feed from the pump in the 67 AIM.

Also, I found with mine that some of the replacement return hoses from the valve to the pump may be too long. Object is to keep the hoses from kinking in all positions, and to keep the hoses from rubbing against the oil pan.

Also (#2), would be to get the front end realigned to maximum caster forward. 2.5 degrees is recommended, I went to 2.75. This gives you much better tracking and stability in the steering at cruising speeds.

You might still owe me at San Diego.

[Gary S.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Gary,


You might still owe me at San Diego.

Jerry...Ha! I already owe you a drink for your help with the Caswell plating kit and my debt to you is mounting up! I will pay up sometime...promise.

I have not had a chance to work on the car, but hope to this weekend. I will report back when I find the fix, but after checking the internet farther, I do think it will be the flow control valve in the pump.

I have watched those hoses move with the steering and they seem OK. That rub on the one hose was developing problem I found immediately after the install, but moved it to clear.

Thanks to all for your help.

Gary

[Jim S.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

After driving your Vette, does the fluid in the reservoir appear foamy? If the assist cylinder was originally full of air, it is the furthest component from the pump reservoir. It might take a long time to fill the assist cylinder with fluid and expel all of the air trapped in either side of the piston inside the cylinder.

Here is my suggestion as to bleeding the system; jack up the front wheels, do NOT start the engine, rotate the steering wheel full lock to full lock about two dozen times, check the fluid level in the pump reservoir frequently. Can you see any large bubbles coming to the surface of the fluid in the reservoir? (I know that looking into a Corvette reservoir and adding fluid is not easy.) Add fluid if the fluid level goes down. Lower the car and go for a short drive. Let us know if things are better or not.

Here is a picture of the pump, discharge fitting, flow control valve, and spring. The flow control valve should be positioned with the hex nut end against the spring.


Hope that this helps,
Jim

[Gary S.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Got to work on the power steering today....no luck. I removed the control valve in the pump and it was in correctly per Jim Shea's diagram (hex nut against the spring). I could push the control valve in by hand and it would pop back. I hooked the hoses back up and filled with new PS fluid. Without the car running, I turned the wheels stop to stop about 20 times. There were no bubbles or foam showing. Then, I started the car and did stop to stop several times. If I hold the steering wheel against the stops, I do hear the power steering fluid pressure noise you would expect to hear. I did not take the pump control valve apart. It seems to steer a little easier, but the pressure varies with some spurts of it steering easy like you would expect from PS. Maybe the pump is not putting out enough pressure? I thought I could fix this easily, but am about ready to buy something. Pump? Valve? Suggestions? Thanks to all.
Gary

[Jim S.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Here are a couple of tips that I might add at this point:
If the problem was in only one direction of steering, then the problem had to be in the control valve on the linkage because the pump does not know what direction you are steering. If the problem is pretty much either direction then the problem could be either the pump or the control valve on the linkage. You already have checked the flow control valve inside the pump as to how it is oriented and the fact that it seems to slide smoothly in the pump bore. Also the pump makes typical moaning noises at full lock. So with this limited information, I would change the valve on the linkage.

I know that this was covered in previous postings but I seem to remember the control valve stud binding if you have the incorrect pitman arm.

The power steering pitman arm has the numbers 3741383 usually with an "A" or "B" suffix. It was used on 1963 thru 1982 Corvettes with power steering.

The manual steering pitman arm has the numbers 3829452 forged or cast on the arm.


Jim

[Timothy B.]

Re: 67 Power Steering Added, Not Working Right

Gary,

If it were mine I would get a detailed picture of the valve componits and take that valve apart before I spend any $$.