I tried to change the power steering high pressure hose on my '95 Rodeo today, and it kicked my butt. I could not figure out how to loosen the lower connection. After an hour or so of frustration, I had to give up because it got dark. This is where I'm at. I figured out I can access the bottom connection easier by removing the front passenger tire. My 19mm open-ended wrench seemed to be too small, though. That was the largest that I had, so I'm heading to the store to get a set with a larger open-ended wrench. But a larger measure wrench equals a longer handle, and that makes it harder to manuever in the small spaces. There seems to be a long opening going from the bottom connection toward the cab that would be good for a long wrench, but it's still tight quarters.


Could someone please give some specific instructions on thebest way to get the bottom connection off and back on? What size wrench do Ineedfor the bottom? I'm going to tackle thisagain on Thursday evening, so any help by then would be greatly appreciated.

 

take out the air cleaner an go straight down with a 15/16th crows foot an extension.or a 22mm.doing it with a open end wrench is awkward like you found out.the nut is pretty tight.i,ve even heated them up with a controlled flame.small torch.so make sure you use the correct size.an there is another nut that holds the line to the bracket underneath.you may want to get your tools at sears spend your money on something good in quality ,or you willl be cursing.

 

if your power steering is on the other side.then take loose the fan shroud an fan and go straight down,cut a card board box an place it in front of the radiator so when your wrench breaks free,the momentom wont damage the radiator

 

OK, I've got the power steering hose replaced and all seems well.
Here's an account of my trial. Maybe it will help someone else out in
the future. I ended up going through the wheel well. Seemed easier than
disassembling things top-side. First, I disconnected the hose from the
pump. Then I pulled the wheel off and pulled back the mud flap. This
gives pretty good access to the bottom of the hose.



There are three "nuts" that are involved here. I put "nuts" in quote
because only one is really a nut, but the other two look like a nut.
The top "nut" is the one above the threads on the hose. The middle one
is the true nut which secures the hose to the mounting plate, and the
bottom "nut" is where the threads on the hose thread into the tube that
continues the high pressure line. Still with me?



First I loosened the middle nut. According to my crescent wrench, it
looks to be 22mm. With this loose (but not off), I coud pull the hose
up and reveal more of the "nut" just above the threads. Then I started
loosening the hose's nut with a 19mm open-ended wrench. I had to use
the crescent wrench to hold the bottom "nut" in place, which is
attached to the tube. This was tedious because when I would turn the
hose, the tube on the other end of the hose would turn and catch up
top. I realized later that I should have just loosened the bottom nut
instead of turning the hose. I thought this was fixed to the tube and
wasn't supposed to turn but once it was all apart, I had a better
perspective.



With the old hose off, I cursed it several times and then started
putting the new hose on. I put the threads throught the mounting plate,
then hand-threaded the washer and nut onto the hose to hold it in
place. I didn't tighten it all the way, but threaded it about 3/4 way
up to expose enough thread to connect to the bottom. Getting the bottom
thread to connect to the hose was a bit tedious, but that was probably
just my clumsy fingers. Once everything was together, I started
tightening it. I tightened the middle nut, then fully tightened the
lower piece. According to my crescent, this was about 24mm.



I've done this job on a '93 Cherokee, and it was a snap. On my '95
Rodeo 4cyl, it's one of those jobs where you've got to know the
details. Hopefully this information will help someone out, and I'm sure
it has exposed my amateur level of experience.



Here's a quck run-down of this procedure from my experience. I'm sure it's not the best way, but it worked for me.

1. Disconnect hose from pump

2. Remove front passenger wheel and pull back mud flap

3. Loosen middle nut which secures hose to mounting plate. I used a crescent wrench, but it is probably 22mm.

4. Loosen bottom nut, which is a female thread connected to tube.

5. Pull out old hose and finish removing mounting nut and washer.

6. Put new hose through hole on mounting plate

7. Thread washer and nut about 3/4 way up

8. Thread connection on tube onto the thread on the hose.

9. Tighten mounting nut and bottom connection

10. Attach top end of hose to pump

 

Mine kicked my butt too, i ended up bending the metal part, which looks like was used for cooling... No its ran strait from the pump to the rack. Seems fine though after 4 months of it being like that...