power steering bracket

i have been going thru the kb on removing the water pump. last night i was working on it and was trying to get the pump off with out removing the power steering bracket. my questions is how do you get the bracket off those two studs without removing the power steering pulley and taking the bracket off the right way. any info is much appreciated. thanks

Yu can't....

I just did a W/Pump and I saw no way to get around pulling the P/S pulley....

Some guys have had luck going to the parts store that they are purchasing the part from and borrowing their tool to get their pulley off...I myself found a shop that was willing to let me borrow it...The snap on tool for the pulley is 50bux plus...Now there are others, I happened to use the Sanp-on and it worked VERY slick...BUT..Getting the pulley back on is another challenge...The tool that I had was not sesigned to install, so I pressed it on with a handfull of bolts and washers and nuts...Slowly getting the pulley to slide on the cone taper shaft..I think they cal it a friction shaft..Anyway, you gotta get that pulley off the pump...Took me a few hours all in...Not counting chasing down the tools and sh!t...Good luck...

Cheers

I have replaced three water pumps on my T-Bird and never did I have to take off the power steering pump pulley. The hardest part is getting the bolt off on the mounting bracket that's underneath the power steering pulley.
It can be done. I used a swivel on a long extension to access this bolt. Once the mounting bracket is free, you just move it forward and it allows you to take off the water pump.

tbirddriver,
Where is this bolt that you are talking about? is it on the power steering pump?

here is a good link...

GO here man...Already been a probelm for others way before you...

I guess you can do it without pulling the pulley...Although others are saying that it is easier to just pull the pulley off...Or even the PWR Steering pump...Anyway, whatever....More than one way to skin a cat...

Good luck

http://forums.sccoa.com/showthread.php?threadid=10275&highlight=power+steering+bracket

dude not seeing the link. give it a whirl again.
thanks

Wierd...

I just used the link....It works man...

If you go to Mikes second post at this link, there will be another link that he suggest you use...Also there is quite a bit of info right there...Probably enough for ya to get it done..either way..


Much luck

The bolt is not on the pump, but on the bracket that the pump is bolted to. It's kind of hidden under the pump and actually bolts the bracket to the engine. (Actually I think there,s two under there, one is a bolt, one is a nut, the nut is easy to get to).
If you look under the bracket that comes from the water pump, (the one you have to pull forward to remove the water pump), you can see them. They mount the large cast bracket that the alternator and power steering pump is bolted to, to the engine block.

got it. i already have that entire thread printed out. i also have the procedures printed out from the iowa sc page. it is still not clear to me though to get the bracket to move i have to remove the two pain in the ass bolts holding the bracket on the power steering pump. is the correct? thanks.

There is a steel bracket that goes from the water pump to the power steering pump. The two nuts on the water pump have to come off, but the two on the power steering pump behind the power steering pulley, do not have to come off. There are two others down below, deeper, that are a PITA to remove. One is buried behind one of those cast 'fins' on the bracket. If you reach your hand in there you will feel it.

Yep....

THat is how I interpitted it...Those two bolts "BEHIND" the pulley, then you can move the ehole pump assembley forward to release it from your water pump...I guess it is getting to those bolts behind the pulley...If you have a ratchet wrech that is fairly thin you may turn it into an easy job..Like I said though...I went the pulley removal route..

Good luck once again...

ok. thanks for the info. much appreciated.

one more question on this. when you guys did your water pumps did you remove the belt tensioners to get at the bolts better? If not i would think they would just swing in the way. do also know off the top of your head what the lb-ft is for putting the tensioners back on? i didnt see anything in the kb on that. thanks

No need....

I never had to remove any of the tensioners...

move it under load while you get your nut or bolt out if you have to...Or remove it like ya say...No rules man...Whatever is the easiest for ya...

Cheers...

Torque...Not sure...

75 foot lbs sounds like plenty...

I say get a pulley puller. It will take the headache outa the job.


Before I finally bought one, I used to go to the parts store and they would rent me one. Usually it was free. just needed to leave a deposit you get back when you return it.

re:waterpump

Go ahead and use the pulley remover and also the pulley replacer. While you have the pulley off drill two 1/2" holes in the pulley at 180 degrees to line up with those darned hidden bolts.
Next time you can just insert a deep socket through one of the holes and remove or loosen the bolts with the PS pulley intact.
GRClarke aka the SonySC@hotmail.com

ok cool thanks. i will do that. hopefully the next time is when someone else owns the car.

i have seen in postings that once the bracket is removed some have elected not to put it back on. Is that a good idea to do that. what else supports the power steering pump? looks like that bracket helps support the weight in the front of the pump.

Random bracket...

I just went through this when I removed my front timing cover. Of course I had to remove the water pump in the process.

Basically as far as I can see there is no way to get the bracket off, without pulling the P/S pulley. The pulley seats so close to the bracket that it's like 1/8" away from it, there is no wrench that thin that can go behind the pulley and turn the bolts enough to loosen the steel bracket. ANd on the water pump the bracket is in place with two studs, that you can't pull unless you move the bracket.

I do like the idea of drilling holes in the P/S pump pulley, but that would technically throw off the balance of the pulley and could damage the nose cose bearings through excessive wobbling of our already too delicate P/S pumps. Drilling counterholes would keep the pulley in balance but could reduce the overall strength of the assy which could cause it to bend or distort under heavy load.....

I of course had to do it the old fashioned way and I had to remove my I/C in order to re-install since my reinstaller was too long to clear the I/C.

This gave me a good chance to clean the I/C and re-seal the tubes with copper RTV. I also noticed that one of the lower I/C tube bolts was loose on removal, so I made sure to tighten that one up.

Now, I did remove that bracket and didn't reinstall it. To me it seems redundant, since the P/S pump is bolted directly to that cast bracket that the alternator is also bolted to, which in turn is bolted to the block. I've been driving my car for 2 weeks since then and I have not been able to discern any difference in driving, no additional vibrations or noises from the pump or belt. I assume that the bracket was intended to be a NVH bracket, but I'm sure it would make interesting discussion for any Tbird SC engineer that we speak with in the future.

On my 89 parts car that metal bracket is missing. I wonder if the cylinder head is strong enough to support that whole assembly plus the belt tension for very long. That's assuming I ever restore it, also assuming it'll ever be worth restoring.