I'm looking at a truck for sale and it's in decent shape. Lots of little minor things wrong with it (that's what brings it into my price range lol). No speedo, fuel gauge doesn't work anymore, and it's a bit rusty. The guy put a 6 inch lift on it, which I'm not really a fan of. How big of a deal is it to remove the lift? I sent him an email asking whether he had the driveshafts lengthened and he hasn't replied yet.

The only problem that has me questioning the truck is the power steering pump. He told me that in the winter if you forget to plug it in the power steering doesn't work until the truck warms up. Is this an early indication of failure? I bet some synthetic auto tranny fluid would help a bit but I figured it would be best to run this by you guys first.

 

Not sure on power steering problem sound's like it might be low ? or loose some where but on the lift should be easy to swap it back down just have to buy new spring's

 

Yeah I didn't think it was overly complicated. It's sitting on 35s right now and doesn't look half bad, it's jut not for me. Plus it probably gets like 15 mpg right now. I like the idea of an extra 2 inches all the way around with slightly bigger than stock tires. That way you keep the mileage, the truck looks aggressive and you don't lose all functionality.

I sent him an email regarding the power steering, I wasn't sure if it was just a fluid issue or there were bigger problems. Worst case scenario, how hard is it to redo the power steering system on these trucks?

 

Not hard at all tom the powersteering well theres a writeup on redoing the vacuum pump but also tells how to remove the power steering pump. The steering box has 7 or 8 bolts plus two lines going to it. Steering shaft and drag link. Dad n I replaced the steering box on his 90 in about 3 hours.

Now if you want I got a good set of rear leafs sitting here and my fronts I'll trade you if you get the truck .

 

Sounds good, I know you like the look of them lifted to the sky lol. I was talking to the guy and the reason it has been for sale for so long is because he doesn't want to sell it so he never calls anyone back! I'm trying to befriend him so hopefully he will part with it.

 

My steering is stiff for a few mornings on the coldest start ups. I think any fluid that has to flow and work is slower on cold days. Don't force it and let it circulate and it goes away quick. I bet its a crappy lift with no pitman arm and the while steering assembly is already under strain so the cold just makes it much worse.

 

Many times the steering on these trucks gets stiff in cold weather and sometimes they are stiff any time the truck sits for any length of time. I believe the dealers referred to this as "Hard Park". Sometimes they can be brought back by flushing out the old fluid and refilling with new synthetic PS fluid.

 

mine comes and goes i'm thinking about flushing the fluid out and adding new hoping it fixes it if not i'll be swaping pumps.

 

First off I put a new power steering pump on about a year ago and when ever it's cold out the powersteering don't work till it warms up then it will kick in. Now for the brakes I bypassed the antilock valve in the rear and the brakes will always lock up in the rear making it very hard to drive on ice. At this point do I need to bypass proportioning valve or what's the problem here? Thanks for the help this truck is a mess but my baby!