Hey not sure if this is the correct place for this but my steering pump died the other day and I just want to replace it with the same thing. It’s not a track car or anything just city streets. I’ve heard a lot of bad things about Cardone pumps online so what’s the best path? My skylark is a ‘72 with a ‘70 455.
Comfortable with tools ? You'll need to remove the old one & then install the replacement. Reasonably simple job if everything comes apart easy enough. Rebuild kits are available & very easy to install on your own. Might take an hour or two. Pulley removal can be an issue.
Plenty comfortable with tools and do all the work on my skylark myself. I’d rather just replace the whole pump instead of rebuild it really. Any suggestions as far as brands to stay away from or anything? I already have old one removed and pulley removed as you can see in the picture.
Rebuild of GM pumps is fairly easy & straight forward. Just use your chassis manual. No special tools needed. IF you do it yourself it will probably come out better than some or most of the rebuilds available. At least you'll know the pump fits & will bolt right up. One of the bigger things with the rebuilds is that lots of times the shaft is the wrong diameter so you may need to get a diff. pulley. You'll call & tell them the wrong pump was sent & they will swear to you that your original pump was incorrect. May save LOTS of time & trouble & additional expenses of shipping. Just my thoughts during this stuff my whole life.
I rebuilt mine....it was not bad at all. There is a good video on YouTube. Watch that and decide. I bought the gates kit on Amazon. Half the stuff I buy doesn't work or fit so I figured I couldn't do worse.
Rebuilding an old style Saginaw pump is pretty straightforward. I did it a couple years ago on one from a 76 Lincoln. If you understand pumps at all then it’s fun to see the inside of this design. Pretty clever, really. But I’m a weirdo who finds zen in rebuilding all sorts of pumps ...
I just went through sourcing a 70 pump assembly. Quite difficult to locate and can be very costly. The one i received had the wrong reservoir (only one stud for mounting on the back like 71). Decided to disassemble and found the correct pump install into the wrong reservoir. I drilled the reservoir to add the second stud. I agree, rebuild the one you have. One other option and less costly is you can buy a pump assembly and install it into you reservoir.
I had my original '71 Saginaw power steering box rebuilt by YearOne. Converted from I think stock 17:1 to fast ratio 12:1 which was a huge improvement for my car since it's on the track a fair amount. I'm sure you can do it yourself cheaper, as others have said above, but YearOne did a great full rebuild and upgrade to 12:1 for about $250
PSC performance steering components in Texas rebuilt mine and upgraded the pressures for my set up. very inexpensive and fairly fast. I wanted mine back knowing it would bolt back up the same way I had it.
Just quick question, you all talking about rebuilding pump with gasket sets. For me it just looks like resealing not rebuilding? What about rotor, ring or vanes? Peace, Kacper.
Well @Lucy Fair it's a bit of both. The full Gates kits have a front bearing and a shaft bushing -- plus the seals. To your point, no vanes or "hard parts". Having taken one apart I can't imagine a ton of wear unless it had 400K on it or was run dry multiple times and beaten on (not impossible...). If that is the condition, I would buy a rebuilt pump and swap in your original proportioning valve so you know it's set-up for your car. If you wanted to go one step further you could essentially swap the rebuilt internal pump into your reservoir body and then pop in the original proportioning valve (all the other parts are the same). This would give the pump a more original appearance as I know some of the rebuilds are slightly different (as they say at the parts store "hey don't worry about it...it's wicked close") or look like they were hit by a train.
So back to the top of this thread, what pump should I buy? I decided to take mine apart and re-seal it after carmantix did my steering box and I didn't want to pump grunt thru that. Well, I screwed up, pried something I should not have and broke the casting right where the o-ring seals. So my pump is scrap metal. It seems everybody wants a $25-35 core charge and now I'm looking at spending anywhere from $60-120 depending on brand. My reservoir housing is fine, I can re-use it. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...+v8,1319071,steering,power+steering+pump,7380 Suggestions?
