power steering too powerful

[mud.man.rj]

I did on my 71 4wd Gmc and went to a larger wheel, thought it would make it worse but actually made it feel better, not as jumpy as the to small wheel. Could always find a pump with a larger pulley on it which would turn slower being a larger circle and slow down the steering a bit, but need longer belt.

[Joesprocket]

Originally Posted by mud.man.rj

I did on my 71 4wd Gmc and went to a larger wheel, thought it would make it worse but actually made it feel better, not as jumpy as the to small wheel. Could always find a pump with a larger pulley on it which would turn slower being a larger circle and slow down the steering a bit, but need longer belt.

Interesting that with a larger wheel you thought it felt better. I may start with that and see where it leads me. I like your idea of finding a PS with a larger pulley but damn that probably falls pretty low on my truck priority list

[mud.man.rj]

Easy to find a used pump, different years have different sized pulleys just stay close in year so the hose ends are the same, hard to find a poor Chevy ps pump, usually pretty tough.

[leftybass209]

This has been debated in detail in other posts. To summarize, in order for you to keep your power steering and increase the effort to turn (which increases road feel) you need to swap out the high pressure valve. The valve reduces the pressure (which can be between 900 and 1200 psi) essentially reducing how much power assist the pump is offering.

I tried using the shim kit which is also available and found that it doesn't decrease the power assist enough to warrant doing the modification. All the shim kit did was significantly reduce the high squeel that occurs when the wheel is turned to either lock.

The concensus is, the power steering assist you are feeling is indeed the way the factory intended it to feel.

Best of luck with your choice.