Power Steering delete for fuel economy gain - anyone done it?

[saand]

4ringcircus, I did the same thing as yourself and thought no way people cant drive around like this its way to much effort to turn. When i looked more into it i found if you remove the power steering hydraulic lines the effort becomes significantly easier. I am not sure about a 4x4 but for my car it worked well and i dont even notice the effort in steering (until i get into another car and turn with much more effort than i should).

have a look at the wiki if your interested in trying it out as i have put in some pictures and a how too instruction for the mod.
Power steering delete - EcoModder

[Craig]

On my '95 Saturn TDI project, I just cut the lines off the fittings and used a piece of 3/8" fuel hose to loop between the two. For awhile I thought about trying to refit the VW power steering pump in a different location, but I found that I really didn't miss the power steering. It does take some effort at very low speed, but it's not a Herculean effort, either.

[bheadrick]

if your water pump is on the same belt, how do you go about removing the belt from the power steering? Can you get a smaller belt that doesn't have to go around the power steering pulley?

[echo-francis]

i would like to take out my p/s belt and bypass the lines but can someone give me clearly instruction on aow to do this please (my power steering have is own belt)

[Frank Lee]

Now I've done power steering delete for fuel economy gains, but I don't drive enough anymore to post any reports quickly.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by echo-francis

i would like to take out my p/s belt and bypass the lines but can someone give me clearly instruction on aow to do this please (my power steering have is own belt)

I did this last year on my car, which is similar to yours in that the power steering pump was run off its own belt. It's fairly simple (remove pump, belt, lines, and replace with a loop between the pressure and return lines at the rack, with an extra hose if you want a reservoir), and I followed this DIY: DIY: Removing Power Steering - Honda Civic Forum You'll need to figure out what size/thread the rack fittings are for your car before you can replace them, but the rest should be analogous.

[echo-francis]

what did you do with the power steering liquid?

[deathtrain]

use it for weed killer.... J/K

[trooper Tdiesel]

pulled the belt on the side kick a year or more back.

its very light for a RWD suv, has narrow tires, with high pressers.
takes some force at a stop 60LB at the very very most, but really not that bad.


thus the mpg gane is in the less then 1 mpg range.

id gane more from a clutch fan swap out, than the P\S belt removal.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by echo-francis

what did you do with the power steering liquid?

I drained it into an old milk jug and mixed it in with my old motor oil the next time I changed it and brought it in for recycling. I do the same with coolant and other fluids that I can't legally dispose of, too.

Originally Posted by deathtrain

use it for weed killer.... J/K

I live in an apartment, so I don't have to worry about weeds!