Experience Replacing Power Steering Pressure Hose - Gates or NAPA?

Crown of 66

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Hey guys, on to tackle issue ONE on my new 66 Imperial. Had some smoke coming from under the hood; had my son get in and crank wheel from side to side while I watched. PS high pressure hose was jumping around like an angry snake and then squirting out like a mini-gusher when it went to lock.

This car has a 440 (not sure if all Imperials had them, maybe some had a 413?) and I've attached a picture of the pump.

Searching around on this cite and a few parts cites, looks like the two options are either NAPA or GATES from RockAuto. Any preferences? Anything special to know on this job, or pretty straightforward R+R?

Also, does anyone have handy a photo of the correct routing for this hose? Mine is leaning over too close to manifold, and I think there must be a correct alternate routing. Thanks guys!

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'66 Imperials are 440 powered. Gates hoses for my money are the best replacements if you are not using an OEM hose. NAPA hoses are usually pretty good also, as John noted above, most of them were made by Gates.

Dave
 
Hose routing is usually "out there in the open air", under the hood. Once you get the pressure hose, see where it goes from the back of the pump, curved around and goes to the front-top of the gear, then the return line goes from the gear to the pump, things should be more apparent of how it all goes, hopefully. I found no hose routing pictures in the '66 Chrysler/Imperial service manual or in the '66 Chrysler parts book. Both downloaded from www.mymopar.com.

ONE thing, from my own experiences on my Chrysler vehicles . . . use ONLY power steering fluid approved for those cars. NOT auto trans fluid! If the fluid shows any tinge of "red", put the correct fluid in it and then flush it with new correct fluid after running things a bit. On my '67 Newport, it started to get a seep through the rubber of the pressure line, like it was sweating. I checked and found a reddish tint to the fluid in the reservoir. Got it out, put the correct Chrysler (which was still around for those cars, back then), ran it a while and got the reservoir drained again, then put new fluid back into it. END of hose seeps!

After I couldn't get the Chrysler fluid from where I'd been getting it, I discovered the GM psf looked to be the same fluid AND dedicated only to power steering units, so I used that in my Chryslers with no problems at all. I believe the GM part number was 1050121? Spec it for a '77 Caprice, what ever it has superceded to.

I really liked the '64-'66 Imperials. The 413s were in the 1965 and earlier cars. 413s were replaced with the then-new 440 in 1966 cars.

Enjoy!'
CBODY67
 
Thanks so much, CBODY67, for that info. As dumb as it might sound, didn't occur to me to check the FSM for hose routing! Yeah, I noticed a definite red tint in the fluid squirting out, so am pretty sure that the previous owner had put in ATF.
 
Back when these cars were "used cars", the orientation was that atf could be used to "top off" the reservoir if it might be a little low. Which was generally fine, but if it was continually topped off with atf, due to a leak, then you ended up with a system generally full of atf. Chrysler and GM both had specific power steering fluids from about 1962 onward, best I can tell.

The Chrysler and referenced GM fluid was a waxy-clear fluid. In the Chrysler fluid I was buying from a Mopar parts jobber in Fort Worth, the Chrysler fluid quart can had a very nice rolled lip (decreased drip tendencies!), so I kept them and refilled them with the GM fluid. The nice red/white/blue coloring looked nice, too.

Welcome from N TX!

CBODY67
 
From your picture I get the idea you're actually referring to the low pressure return hose. The high pressure hose is the narrow one BTW, and the low pressure return hose is the bigger one. The bigger one comes fairly close to the exhaust manifold, but shouldn't touch. The high pressure hose should route nowhere near the manifold and is kept in place by rotating the metal hose ends as they exit the fittings as you're tightening them up so that the when the fittings are locked down the hose is locked in a safe position.

The high pressure hose is sold in just about any parts store, made by a number of companies - Echlin, Gates, etc. They're usually just fine in terms of serviceable quality.

The low pressure return hose would originally have been a molded 5/8ths I.D. hose with a fairly tight radius bend near the top, so that you could connect it to the return port at the top of the reservoir and twist it so that the bend would route it as far away from the manifold as possible. It would look sort of like a candy cane shape. Those molded hoses are very hard to find (I managed to find two NOS ones for my car a few years ago), and the part number supercedes now to simple P.S. Fluid compatible hose cut to length. The trick there is to use some sort of tie strap that won't abraid the hose to keep it away from the manifold. No hose or rad hose should ever be touching a fixed metal piece, as engine vibrations can cut a hole in a hose in a few minutes. The only exception to that rule are the metal tie straps for heater hoses on the passenger side valve cover which when installed properly, move with the engine and so don't abraid the hose they're holding.
 
Hey Ross and Jer, thank you guys for the info! I was talking about the pressure line, but had included a photo of the pump because I was thinking there were a few different styles of PS pumps on these cars. Appreciate all the info you guys shared - definitely will have that new hose routed away from the manifold!

I've got the hose on order coming to my house now, thanks all!
 
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