My '63 T Bird is the first cl***ic car that I've had in probably 5 decades that is equipped with power steering. It seems to work great except for the annoying screech when I reach the limit of the turning radius. Sounds like the belt slipping but it seems fairly tight. Any way to adjust this to get rid of the noise? Thanks
If the belt is tight, a new belt may help. However, it won't squeal if you don't hold the steering wheel hard against the steering stop.
Simply means that you are holding the wheel against full lock too damned long, they did it when they were new. Over the number of years that I did front end work and worked on power steering pumps and gear boxes I did find that GM pumps at least work a lot quieter with genuine GM power steering fluid. I flushed automatic transmission fluid out of a number of them and replaced it with Power steering fluid and they quieted down. That said I don't know what Ford recommended for power steering fluid but If I were you I would be investigating what the Ford factory recommendation for power steering fluid for a 63 T bird was and maybe flush the system even though those systems usually leaked so much that they flushed themselves in the 70's. Damn you know you are old when some kid calls a car that was built when you were in high school a ******** "cl***ic".
If a new belt doesn't get the squeal to stop, it could be the pulley grooves are worn and not gripping the belt as they should. I had this problem in the past and found the pulley grooves slightly worn. To avoid buying new pulleys, I took them off and sand blasted them to roughen up the grooves in hopes of a fix....it worked. Something cheap and easy you may want to consider trying, if a new belt/s don't fix the problem.
Is the belt thick enough? You may have worn out pulleys. The sides of the belts grab onto the sides of the pulleys not the bottom.. Did this set up ever work correctly?
Common problem when your used to driving a modern car. Lock on the steering is raising the power steering pumps to max pressure. This causing the skipping of the belt. Let off the lock a bit and it should go away. Once installed 605 box on a guys 55. Later he came back complaining of the squeal. Went for a drive and showed him stay off lock.
Will check the belt and the pulleys. I don't hold it on the stop more than a second, as soon as I hit the stop it squeals. I remember the noise from my younger years, and was just hoping it was something I could adjust out. ( It's a lot more annoying now that I'm an old fart!)
It is gonna screech when you get to lock. That is the pump trying to push it past that point and the belt slips because it is not a cog belt. Best thing is to remember that you cannot go past lock. when you get there and it screeches back off a little bit.
- yep, flush the system of old fluid & air - put in new fluid, which was Type A but hard to find - think Type F or F/A can be found - do not use "modern" power steering fluid - air & dirt not a friend - drain/flush by removing a hose turning wheels a few times with motor off and frontend on jack/stands - then replace hose repeat with still raised up and run motor and watch for fluid drop as air goes out and top off
In addition to the belt, it could be just the pressure relief valve doing its thing. At the stop the valve should open to prevent overpressure damage. And some squeal. Hear it a lot on my little tractors when the lift is overloaded, or when the hydro drive is at its limit.
Ken nailed it. Anytime the pump can no longer send oil to the system the relief valve will open and oil will recirculate within the pump. You will usually get a change in sound, and quite often it will be a squeal. When you release pressure on the steering wheel, the control in the system will go to center position and the oil has a place to go without causing the relief valve to open. Could be the belt but my bet is that you are hearing the relief valve do it's job.
The Jalopy Journal
