Got me a new truck saturday. 97 Ram 3500 4wd 5 Speed ext cab with 92,000 miles on her! but it has something i have never seen before, but turns out a few of my buddies diesels have it too. Mine's brakes are run off of the power steering pump. But the pump decided to puke out a softball size spot of power steering fluid while in church tonight...

Im gonna get under it tomorrow and make sure it isnt just a lose hose clamp or something. but my question is.. Since the brakes are run off of the p/s pump on this truck, does that make it a different pump from the ones on a truck who have the regular brake assembly? since i may have to buy one...

thanks!!

 

That's not the power steering pump, it's the vacuum pump; it's just wedged there between the timing case and the power steering pump because they share a shaft (giggity). Diesels don't make vacuum the way gassers do, certainly not enough to run the brake booster on a 1 ton truck reliably, so the pump is there to provide it.

Otherwise, the power steering pump itself is the same unit from the half- and three quarter-ton trucks.

 

i think you are wrong beard. His truck should be just like my 97 with hydroboost brake system. The power steering pump does in fact power your brakes also. If the truck has been sitting, like i would imagine it has with only 92,000 miles on it, then it probably has air in the system. mine did this when i got it, so i replaced the p/s pump only to have the new one do the same thing. you can jack it up and turn the tires lock to lock and try to work the air out, but this didn't work much for me. I wound up just driving the truck for a few days and letting it work itself out. Make sure that you keep it full of fluid. Also you'll lose power steering before you lose the brakes, thats the way that they are designed.

 

Thanks y'all! Would being low on fluid cause it to leak? When it gets low, my rear brakes lock up pretty easily too.

 

Don't know that being low on fluid would cause it to leak, but it would let more air in. Is it hard to turn? mine was.
I also don't know why your rear brakes would lock up easier when the fluid is low.

 

^ He's right, I'm wrong. Listen to him. My bad, y'all.

 

It seems to fix the brakes locking up when I put fluid it in so I'm putting money on that the low fluid causes air in the system and makes the brakes act funny. We will see today what exactly is leaking. Have you ever replaced a p/s, hydro boost type of p/s pump? I read somewhere that I have to have a mirror or something and turn the engine to make sure that the vacuum pump and new pump are correctly in time with eachother.

Thanks for all your help!

 

i replaced mine on my 97. Never heard of having to have your p/s pump in time. i just un-bolted one and bolted the other one back on. The little ears on it do have to line up.