My second gen dodge ram I own has been having steering issues since I got it. Sloppy steering and constant power steering leaks. I had put some stop leak fluid in it and it worked for a month or so until the leaks started again so I decided to buy all the parts I needed off of rock auto and do it myself. It needed a new pitman and idler arm, pitman shaft seals(where the leak was confirmed) and a suspected leaky hose so I bought a new high pressure and return hose.

I started the repair by removing the arms, disconnecting the hoses, and removing the steering box from the truck. I then took it to the garage and disassembled the steering box and replaced the seals and carefully put it back together, reinstalled the box and put in the new hoses, instead of stop leak I refilled the now empty power steering reservoir with ATF-4 tranny fluid and installed the new pitman and idler arm.

I start the Truck up and there is a horrible whining noise coming from the power steering pump that wasn’t there before, before I could shut it off something popped and high pressure fluid shot out all over the place making a huge mess as Well as started to come out from the pitman shaft again. Truck is now going to a shop.

So what did I do wrong I’m always trying to learn from my mistakes?