So over the weekend I replaced the rack and pinion, steering pump with lines on my 2000 durango. Now I have an 02 Durango as a part truck that it all came off of and the little bit I drove it everything worked great. I'm have g a problem bleeding the system, ive done what my haynes repair manual said but was still getting air out of the system and when are you turn the wheel all the way to either direction the last quarter turn it got really stiff kind of lost here guys

 

Jack up the front end of the truck. Engine off, turning steering lock to lock several times. Check fluid level. Also see if there is any air whipped into the fluid. If there is, let it sit for 20 minutes or so, then do it again. When no more air shows up, do the same thing with the engine running. Turn it off to check condition of the fluid. When there is no more air, should be good to go.

 

Not sure how the Haynes manual says to bleed it but... this is how I do it. Jack up the front high. Remove reservoir cap. With truck OFF, turn steering lock-lock about 30 times. If you still have air, you might have a leak or are sucking air somewhere. Hope you converted it to ATF+4 when you were swapping it.

 

My truck has the factory oil cooler for the power steering so as of this point right now I have not converted to that fluid yet I have went through two cycles of pumping it or turn the wheel 40 times each with a nose up in the air I'll still getting there so I did a flush type of thing this morning and trying to figure out where I'm at so far

 

Was the truck off, cap off?

What cooler you have makes no difference on whether you can use ATF or not. I have the factory cooler too. Great time to flush it with ATF is when performing tranny drain. I used that old used ATF to flush, before adding fresh ATF (any ATF is fine, doesn't have to be ATF+4). Disconnect the lines at the steering gear and let the reservoir drain out. With the lines disconnected, cycle the steering wheel and it will spit the fluid out of the steering gear. Connect lines and refill with used fluid. Repeat process again, ending with new fluid.

 

One of those little hand vacuum pumps and a rubber stopper for the reservoir could be an option if all else fails.

 

im confused what does the steering have to do with the trans fluid? I too have been having an issue but my steering got super stiff after sitting for about 3wks in need of a fuel pump and after a few days it loosened but will not spin back in place after turning and intermittently gets really stiff but fluid level is fine any ideas?

 

Dupe.

 

You can run automatic transmission fluid in the power steering system instead of power steering fluid