And yet again, another problem needs to be addressed. Getting ready for the spring and I'm trying to finish up the car. After installing the engine and putting on the accessories (alternator, ps pump) the power steering is making a lot of noise when turning lock to lock. I can barely turn the wheels to full lock when it is on the ground but easily can turn it when their off the ground. The problem is the noise or squealing is extremely loud regardless if the wheels are on or off the ground. I know I got all of the air out as I did the usual lock to lock and I have not gotten any froth or oil drop in the pump.

Any ideas or suggestions as to what it could be? Could the pump be bad? It worked fine before I pulled the engine. I did check to make sure the belt is tight as well. I'm perplexed here. Any ideas?????

You said you had squealing, that's usually the belt, or the internal relief valve. If tension is OK, then the belt may be contaminated with oil, or it's worn out or glazed. Put a chalk mark on the pulley and have someone turn the wheel while you watch the pulley to see if it slows down or stops.
I like Gates belts.
David

The belt is brand new, although I did get it at the local autozone. But I will check to see if there are any contaminants on it. This is driving me nuts. I hope it is as simple as this.

I did turn the steering wheel and I can see the belt actually bow up a little bit when it goes to full lock while on jackstands (if that makes sense). The wheel is a lot harder to turn when the wheels are on the ground and it begins to squeal about halfway through turning the wheel. But I did check the tension and I can't get the belt any tighter. I do have an aftermarket ps pump bracket on just like the March Performance brackets.

Could you be running out of travel before the belt is tight? Try brake clean or carb cleaner on the pullys with the belt off. Is the belt as strait as it should be.

Stock front suspension with stock alignment settings?
OR
Lots of caster and wider wheels with minimal backspacing?

Original design of stock set-up is OE and worked with the assigned load and given Ackerman steering angle.

If you widen the wheel width, placing the centerline of the tire/wheel combo further out, and more caster than stock, places greater load on the power system.

Could you be running out of travel before the belt is tight? Try brake clean or carb cleaner on the pullys with the belt off. Is the belt as strait as it should be.

I double checked the belt and made sure it is aligned.

Stock front suspension with stock alignment settings?
OR
Lots of caster and wider wheels with minimal backspacing?

Original design of stock set-up is OE and worked with the assigned load and given Ackerman steering angle.

If you widen the wheel width, placing the centerline of the tire/wheel combo further out, and more caster than stock, places greater load on the power system.

Good point. I do have much wider wheels on the front with a 245 size tire. And I am running a GW UCA that does change the caster and camber.

My car is going to a performance shop today for them to fix the exhaust they made a mistake on and to have it dyno tuned on the chasis dyno. I am going to have them look at the power steering while it's there. Hopefully, they can correct the problem. I will post here when I find out the issue. Thanks for all the help.

I good way to tell if it's the belt slipping is to spray some water on it while it's making the noise. If it goes away, it's slipping.

Well I got my car back from the shop. They fixed their mistakes and solved my steering issue. Turns out the belt was a tad too long. They put a shorter belt on and problem solved. I'm glad it wasn't anything major. Thanks for all the posts and assistance.

There is not a lot of adjustment range for the PS pump, plus often the replacement number for a belt is just something close to factory length, often not the ideal length. I've come across that with our farm fleet, the parts store looks it up in the book, or computer and it may fit but be right at the end of the adjustment or too short.

Thanks for coming back and letting us know how it turned out.
David

No problem. I'm just glad it turned out to be something minor for once. Usually I'm stuck redoing what I just did....LOL.