there was 2 wet spots under the front of my truck today and a drip every so often from the frame, i traced the leak to the top of the steering box. one of the 2 lines that go into the top was not even finger tight, if you wiggled the line it would move side to side so i tightened it up. wiped everything down and cleaned it up then drove around a little and havent seen it leak any more. was just wondering if anyone has heard of one of these lines coming loose before because im kinda at a loss of how it could come loose.

 

just an update it still has a slight leak after being tightened down, if anyone knows if there is a O-ring on the connection that might have got messed up? or maybe something else that could have got messed up from being loose.

 

Could use some info from anyone who knows much about power steering, the line did have a bad O-ring which i replaced and i think i got air in the line during. i worked the wheel lock to lock a few times and test drove it around the block and it seemed fine, yesterday i ran a few errands to town and still was fine. after rotating my 40" tires today i went to hook up to my trailer and while trying to turn my truck around when it was sitting still i could barely turn the wheel at all, it just happened all at once. after doing some research i jacked the front end up and pumped the brakes while turning the wheel lock to lock and some air bubbles came out but i dont think all of it did. i dont know if i did it right or not any help would be nice ty.

 

With that big of tires i would say your pump and probably gear box are being overworked, thus too much pressure on the line making it blow an o-ring. Best way to bleed the lines is to loosen the PS cap, jack the front wheels up and turn lock to lock a dozen times or so and pump the brakes, b/c the brakes are ran off of the PS pump to. I would be looking into a new pump and upgraded gear box to be safe.

BTW, the truck in your picture looks nothing like what is in your sig, is the truck in question an 01 or 07?

 

Ive also noticed the power steering fluid is overflowing a little out of the cap as i drive and make tight turns. Ive read when its trying to over flow its supposed to be air trying to get out?
also i did try bleeding it with the front end off the ground working the wheel lock to lock while pumping the brakes but i didnt have the engine running, should it be running? i also would work the wheel lock to lock on the ground while it was running with the cap off and after just a few times it would feel back to normal but once i would take off to drive it would tighten up again.
hillbilli i changed the sig and yes it is the diesel in the pic and its an 06, the 01 is my other truck and its just a half ton.

 

You still might have some air if the system and it may take a while to work out. Next time its hard to turn and your in a parking lot or somewhere, slightly press the gas to raise the rpm's. If your steering gets better immediatly, your PS pump is getting weak.

 

i actually just tried that today before i pulled into my driveway, giving it gas has no effect on the steering at all.

 

well ive pretty much figured out what is happening with it but i cant figure out how to stop it. The system is making a gurgling sound when the wheels return to center, mostly from turning the wheel from right lock to the left. and from left lock to the right is when it wants to over flow out the cap. its sucking air in constantly pretty much and im getting frustrated. i pulled the line i replaced the o-ring on and the o-ring was shot again, replaced it and still got the gurgling pulled the line and the o-ring was mushed into 2 pieces again. it keeps ruining the o-rings almost instantly, does it need a special o-ring? ive been using black rubber ones from the parts store.

 

I had my PS pump go bad on my 2000 dakota with the 4.7 v8.

When I replaced the pump I had to swap the old resevoir onto the new pump.
There is an o-ring between the pump and resevoir.
If you don't get that o-ring just right the pump sucks air, makes horrible grinding noises, and the fluid foams out of the resevoir cap.

The other symptom is it will drip while the engine is running but gushes out as soon as the engine is shut off.
The fluid leaks out in such a way that it appears to be coming from the front seal of the pump.
If you are sucking air it most likely is that damn o-ring on the resevoir.
A pressure line leak would not cause air to be introduced into the system while the engine is running (until all the fluid leaks out!)

Maybe this is not the problem you have (hope it isn't) but this was the VERY frustrating thing that happened to me.
Took me two tries to get that damn resevoir o-ring right.

 

I took this video yesterday while trying to fix it and for anyone who cares this is with the front end off the ground turning the wheels lock to lock really slow with my foot on the brake. it tends to gurgle most going from right lock to center then left, and the fluid level is rising most from left lock to center then right. it just does this constantly until it flows over the neck.