Hard to Steer
 

Ok so my power steering pump went on my 98 a few months ago and I replaced it. For bleeding I jacked front up, put fluid in to correct level and turned from lock to lock a billion times. Is that the proper bleed? Because if I'm not moving, its almost impossible to turn my wheels. I've been reading up on here that bad steering linkage ball joints could be the problem, but the reason I don't think so is if I am parked, and I put the truck into neutral, and I hold the engine at say 1k rpms, I can turn just fine sitting there. But if the engine is down at it's normal idle then I practically can't even turn the wheels. What's it like for you guys when you are sitting still and parked at an idle? Can you turn your wheel without pulling as hard as you can with both arms? Also don't know if this is could also be a symptom of that steering bushing going bad and I need to do the rock-solid-ram-steering-fix cause I do have a good amount of play in my steering anyways. Thanks everyone!

Jack up the truck, and with the engine OFF, turn the wheels from lock to lock. Any binding? Turn fairly easily? If yes:

Put the truck back on the ground. Start it up. P/S pump making any rude noises? Get any power assist when you try and turn? If No, flow control valve in pump is bad. (replace the pump, again.....)

Did you flush out the system when you originally replace the pump?

Ok sadly I did not flush :( I will do the jacked up sequence this weekend to check for binding. What is the proper way to do the flush?

:) Proper way? Oh, I am sure there is some 12,000 dollar tool for it...... but, what I do is:

Remove return line from P/S pump. Make sure reservoir is FULL.
Point return line into large container, secure the line to the container.
Start engine, crank steering lock to lock, while making sure the reservoir STAYS full. (this generally takes two people.)
Keep doing that till the fluid out of the return line runs clean.
Reinstall return line to pump.
Crank steering lock to lock a couple more times, top off fluid.
Done.

Ok I know this is quite late of a response, but I did get the truck up on a lift and there is absolutely no binding. It turns like a dime up in the air. When its on the ground its to the point that I cannot even turn the wheel without revving the engine alittle bit. The power steering pump was replaced a few thousand miles ago I know there is not a problem with it. I have not flushed however...I feel like that wouldn't be causing me to have no steering though..

You may want to tell us what size tires you have on the front(4X4). Bigger tires have more of a footprint and take more to move them. Also what did the fluid look like out of the old pump? If it was black with metallic specks in it you may have damaged the new pump.

No it was that color of normal engine oil or gear oil. And I have 30s on my 4x4

Do we have an oil filter on the system?

Nope. No filter.

Sounds like you got either the wrong pump, or a bad one.

It's interesting that you can turn when you bring the RPMs up.