Alright dudes, it seems i'm in a little bit of a pickle, or at least have been left scratching my head.

Jeep is a 2007 6spd 2dr. 2.5" RC lift, 315x75x16 Toyo MT's.

Lift and tires have been on for about a year (no rubbing to boot). Well a couple months ago the power steering pump grenaded (it's to be expected, common, etc. Had the dealer replace it with a new one under warranty- good to go.)

Well this weekend I went wheeling with a group and the power steering completely failed. This has happened before but only for a few moments. If I turned to full lock in both directions it would come back, but when wheeling it would just disappear again. Works completely fine on the road (it's a my DD) so i'm a little bit at a loss. Pump is fine- no leaks like when it went the first time. Just does it whenever i'm wheeling. Made for a total PITA during our 8hr wheeling trip too.

I'm very light on the pedal and don't tear on it too hard. We can't seem to find any binding when we flex it in the garage either.

Has anyone else experienced this? Also, on that morning (was only about 15 degrees outside) it would actually turn to the side and STAY turned to the side once you let go (could go in circles without touching the steering wheel.)

a YJ, 2 TJ's (both heavily modified) and I've never seen this in my life. All my experiences have left a severe lack of faith in the stealership, (plus I don't have the time to constantly deal with them) so i'd like to fix this conundrum myself. Plenty of fluid, no leaking. It is slightly flighty (i will be upgrading the LCA's this summer to fix the caster) but other than that perfectly fine.....

All I can think of is they put the wrong fluid in it and it gets cold and moves like molasses. Doesn't make sense when it heats up during the middle of the day and just fails.. And it's ONLY failing when we go wheeling.....

Any ideas from our local Experts?

 

No one else has experienced something similar? It's not the noob deal where the power steering pump is broken- it's perfectly fine...

Are people running 35's and not having any issues steering offroad?

 

I'm on 35s and the ONLY issues I've had with steering is very practical. Obstacles that get me really twisted or in a bind and i need to turn the wheels. I don't have enough power to turn aired down 35s so it takes a little bit of rocking to do so. Never had a loss of power steering, just not strong enough.

 

Take it back to the dealer. I suspect that when the pump grenaded it put some shrapnel into the steering box. The shrapnel is keeping stuff from moving. when you "lose power" you are either feeling it jam, or the pump is overheating from the extra work.
Tom

 

Yep. The power steering just isn't strong enough to turn a set of large tires thy are aired down, and/or wedged between rocks. That's why alot of people who wheel alot on the rocks with big tires go to a hydraulic ram assist steering like rock ram, PSC, and the redneck ram steering systems. Replaces the steering damper with a hydraulic ram.

 

I've had this happen now a couple of times when I'm wheelin'. I'm running 35"x12.5" BFGs aired down to around 14psi. It never happened until I started airing down. It seems intermittent and seems to happen more when I'm turning right.

Basically what you guys are saying is that the pump is weak and can't handle this?

 

Yes, the pump and box (from other's experience) are too weak to handle a large aired down tire. Now this should really only be in some pretty twisted up stuff off roading. Where a tire, or both are extremely loaded and you are trying to turn. Your basic stuff should not have any issues. I wheel with aired down 35s and have issues on stuff where the tire is locked against something and I need to move it on sticky surfaces. All super low speed/crawling stuff