Replaced the power steering pump today.

It was working fine, but I was having to add a quart of power steering fluid every week. And the leaks were covering my driveway.

Uggh.

So I pulled off a working power steering pump and installed a new Disco 2 power steering pump. But wait. The new, proper, correct, Disco 2 power steering pump has a triangle on its power shaft, and that triangle require 3 holes in the power steering pulley.

Well, some prior owner had installed a non-Disco 2 power steering pump some years ago, and to make it functional they had welded up a non-Disco 2 power steering pulley. It had 1 nut for 1 power shaft instead of needing 3 bolts for the proper black traingle with 3 Disco 2 holes.

So it's no WONDER that the power steering pump leaked because that weld job wasn't balanced. That pulley must have been wobbling for thousands of miles, putting no telling how much stress on that power steering shaft seal!

Good grief.

OK, so my Atlantic British proper Disco 2 power steering pulley saved the day.

Now the correct pulley is mounted to the correct power steering pump with 3 proper 8mm bolts.

No more pulley wobble.

No more power steering leak.

This is an easy job to do. Of course, with multi-owner Disco 2s there's no telling what sorts of non-standard parts you might run into on any job.

Easy enough to solve, though.

Life is good.

 

 

I'll give you $75 for the pair, plus I'll pay the shipping. Why do you need sliders in Vidor? Ain't no rocky trails there. Here, on the other hand ...

 

 

 

Almost have my engine back out to find the cause of the no start.
I also found a leaking freeze plug on each side of the block!
The old ones didn't leak, but I had new ones pressed in at the machine shop since I was rebuilding the thing.
I am disgusted with these people, and here's why.
They are still in business, mon-fri, but their website no longer works.
I have to post this for any future readers.
I took my 04, 4.6 block and crank to Kowalski Racing, Rustburg/Lynchburg, Va
Big Racing engine machine shop,in business for many years, blah, blah.
I asked if they would polish the crank, clean the block, hone the cylinders, and install new cam bearing(which I had), and new freeze plugs.
They said they would order new freeze plugs, and contact me if they could not. They said they would clean the block by hand, since they only had chemicals in their tank for cast iron at the time, and that it should be a couple weeks.
5 weeks go by, so I call. The guy says it isn't ready, he couldn't find freeze plugs(never called me), and that they still didn't have enough aluminum to change the hot tank chemicals. Face palm. Really? This isn't what we discussed at all.
I order, recieve, and deliver them freeze plugs in 3 days.
After 3 calls, one per each of the next 3 weeks, finally, it's supposed to be done.
I go get the block, glance at it, ok, where's the crank? To which which he says, "you had a crank too?"
Yeah, I did. after about 5 minutes, he finds it, untouched. So they actually polish it then and it takes about 15-20 minutes.
Happily, I'm finally done with this headache, for $385. So I thought. I get home, look over the block carefully, and find one of the oil holes in one of the cam bearings is almost completely blocked, because the bearing isn't installed in the right position.
Back on the phone, and several minutes of trying to explain to the guy the problem, to which he finally says, bring it back and we'll look at it, and fix it if we have to.
I'm back at work, so I call my Dad and ask him if he'll take it back up there(it's friday afternoon). He does, and he's a retired engineer, he knows what he's looking at. He goes back into the shop area with them, and makes sure it's done right. They apologize, as it's 100% another screw up of theirs.
I don't have alot of free time to work on this thing, so I eventually get it back together, and back in the truck.
It does not run, and this Not the machine shop's fault. I have narrowed it down to a broken cam key, and/or stuck new oil pressure valve in a new timing cover. I did all the assembly, but have a mechanical failure somewhere, as well as a leaking rear main seal.
The engine turned over, but never ran.
I'm under the truck today, removing things to get the engine out, and yep, a leaking freeze plug on each side of the block.
Kowalski's policy is clearly printed on their receipt too(how convinient) "They are not responsible for any work done".
That says it all.
If I have good dealings with people and business's, I will post it so others know.
If I have bad dealings, I try to look at the situation, and give people the benefit of the doubt.
I have looked at this from all angles, and bottom line, these guys are no good, period.
I originally asked if they did basic machine work, or if it was all high end, high hp builds.
To which I was told, "of course, we do everyday, that's alot of our work".
Apparently they could have cared less about it.
I was always polite and professional with these people, but having nothing good to say about their competance or quality of work.
Beware, and good luck taking them anything.
They will be hearing from me.

 

Some photos from a trip last weekend. Did the Brewer Lake and Strawberry Lake trails in the High Sierra's near shaver lake.

Safe to say the transfer case rebuild was a success - put on about 900 miles.

Did some float tube fishing and general camping activities

Damage:
- rock sliders bent upwards a bit into the sill, doors make contact w/ sliders. Took a 6 foot pry bar and bent them back... good to go (for now). Not sure what else I can do there
- busted tail light
- destroyed passenger headlight (tight spot next to a tree, fell off a rock into the tree, had to sideways winch out of it)
- tore a diff guard bolt off, now its ****-eyed, sprung a small diff leak (I think its just loose bolts on the cover plate)
- lots of scraping and dents on the undercarriage










Clearance was a real issue... dreaming of the day of putting on 35s or 37s mud terrains with lockers

 

I went to Boy Scout camp at Huntington lake for years at Huntington lake which is just north from Shaver -- Beautiful area for sure!

 

Man (Jeff), those are some aired-down tires! Looks like a beautiful area and challenging, too. Thanks, for sharing.

​​​​​​​ Brian.