Power Steering Blowout & Failure!

First off, thanks again for all the guys that put together a great event at HAVOC. I just wish my truck didn’t buckle. I just couldn’t hang for the weekend without my rig running, had many guys offer to take me and my buddy for rides, etc. It’s just not the same thing.

Ok guys, so I have just blown through my 3rd power steering pump  Garbage- Since December 2013. My weekend at Havoc in the Hills last weekend was cut way short after my runs on Friday and my power steering pump blew up / broke. The weekend would have been perfect if I didn’t have to leave the event with a broken truck and have the roll back tow truck take it back home to Annapolis, MD. I was totally bummed that I had to bail from the event that I had planned as my mini-vacation because of a total pump and rack failure. I have offroaded my Raptor quite a bit and this weakness in the truck is unacceptable. I am good friends with the owner of my local dealer and they took care of a new pump & steering rack under warranty. I had a frank conversation this week with the head service tech and he basically told me that this pump is the same one that Ford uses on all F-150’s and for guys like me (and many others) that actually take these trucks off road and push them this is a major weak point.
I have a lot of mods to my truck- RPG Stage 4++, intake, etc., etc. My dealer even researched my options since this has been an ongoing problem and said that the only company they could find that had an aftermarket / upgrade for a new power steering pump & cooler was SDHQ. I wanted to get your feedback on what you have done and any experience you have with SDHQ product before I drop $1K+ into this mod. I just cannot have my rig breakdown like this again at any event that I have been so looking forward to. I talked to quite a few guys at Havoc and they have had the same issues, one member even beat me to the local dealer in PA to have his pump and rack replaced and they did not have the parts for another until at least Monday, so my weekend was shot. It sucked. Thanks again for any advice and input!

Do you have a link to the product you are looking at purchasing? I can't find it on their site.

Do u have any upgrades on your power steering system already, reservoir, cooler, etc...?


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The problem is the rack. Even if you replace the PS pump with something like the Howe system and your rack goes bad, well you can kiss that expensive pump goodbye.

That's not always the case though. An aftermarket reservoir and external cooler probably would've mitigated my issues at snoball. Would've helped a couple people at havoc too.

vanilla_gorilla said:

It does sound like Dallas is going to be FRF capitol for a couple weeks, i'm there the first week in October for work...Bone Daddy's here i come...lol

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That was you.... Ok well. Just so you know, my new pump and rack lasted one a few hours. By 11am Saturday it was dead. Pump was bad out of the box. Didn't help that the dealer installed the RPG tie rods incorrectly.

The Howe pump has been a poor performer. SDHQ said in a post a while back that they are waiting for Howe to redesign the system before selling any more.

In the end. I agree. A new system is needed. RW and I were mighty disappointed that we didn't even get to go around the track once together.

Yukon Joe
www.RUNRAPTORRUN.com

I have been doing a lot of research on all the power steering issues from this pass week end. What are you running for a reservoir? Are you running a cooler? I noticed that the RPG reservoir run a pressure cap Pressure in any system causes the fluid temp to go up. I saw a lot of RPG reservoirs running with out coolers. I spent Saturday installing coolers of trucks until the venders were out of parts. The hotter the oil gets the more likely of a pump failure. I hope this all makes sense

bigred1097 said:

I have been doing a lot of research on all the power steering issues from this pass week end. What are you running for a reservoir? Are you running a cooler? I noticed that the RPG reservoir run a pressure cap Pressure in any system causes the fluid temp to go up. I saw a lot of RPG reservoirs running with out coolers. I spent Saturday installing coolers of trucks until the venders were out of parts. The hotter the oil gets the more likely of a pump failure. I hope this all makes sense

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But the original system does have s cooler, But no spill over like the RPG res offers. The OEM is capped tight.

Yukon Joe
www.RUNRAPTORRUN.com

Howe Pump a poor performer? I have not had that experience. We ran it in the NORRA 500 last year and in the NORRA 1000 this year and beat the crud out of the truck without any pump issues. We had other issues..hehe.

To be honest the only thing that I have heard is that SDHQ had an issue with the bracket, which may have soured them. We built a custom bracket that is strong and spot on.

Along with the pump we run a LARGE howe tank with the spin off filter at the bottom and an inline cooler.

We are a SCAB but run a SCREW ford rack. it has a better ratio for a little quicker steering.

This pump setup works great. This does not mean that other issues can come up in your steering system depending on how you hard you run your rig. We carry a spare rack, a spare steering shaft and a spare firewall bearing. All based on past failures due to impacts with large rocks, cactus/dirt berm, and one small tree. All the above did not bother the Howe pump.

Just my 2 cents. If you need help with the bracket, send me a PM.

G & P Racing said:

Howe Pump a poor performer? I have not had that experience. We ran it in the NORRA 500 last year and in the NORRA 1000 this year and beat the crud out of the truck without any pump issues. We had other issues..hehe.

To be honest the only thing that I have heard is that SDHQ had an issue with the bracket, which may have soured them. We built a custom bracket that is strong and spot on.

Along with the pump we run a LARGE howe tank with the spin off filter at the bottom and an inline cooler.

We are a SCAB but run a SCREW ford rack. it has a better ratio for a little quicker steering.

This pump setup works great. This does not mean that other issues can come up in your steering system depending on how you hard you run your rig. We carry a spare rack, a spare steering shaft and a spare firewall bearing. All based on past failures due to impacts with large rocks, cactus/dirt berm, and one small tree. All the above did not bother the Howe pump.

Just my 2 cents. If you need help with the bracket, send me a PM.

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Thanks for the clarification. So it's the bracket that is the issue. Not the pump.

I guess it comes down to, it's out worth the price for weekend worriers like us?

Yukon Joe
www.RUNRAPTORRUN.com

As I understand it the issue with the Howe pump kits last year was that whoever made the brackets did not do such a great job. Thats why we made our own. The Ford pump does not hold up well to heavy offroad use along with the low fluid volume in the stock setup.

Is it worth it? How far off the beaten path can a "weekend warrior" travel? Its not fun when shit stops working far from the asphalt and AAA. Hell, its not fun no matter where you are.

I started having pump issues along with overheating the PS fluid on basic Barstow to Vegas fun runs. I saw a lot of guys with issues at TRR last year so if you are willing to pop for shocks and bumps and cool lights...whats a PS pump.

Patty has never walked out in the garage and said, is that a new PS pump I see? Now the big rack of lights did get noticed. LOL