As to rebuilding the pump bracket mechanism, the items to repair them "to new" are around from some Mopar vendors, I believe. They were always in the parts book, but as few owners and technicians understood the situation, plus the owners not wanting to have them repaired a second time, the brackets were usually welded at the shop to not have those issues again.
We bought our '66 Newport Town Sedan when it had 7100 miles on it as the new '67s had just arrived. That was also when I was starting to pay attention to what made cars work, in about 7th grade. I was under the hood looking at and checking things when I noticed the pwr str belt might be a bit loose. Even a bit too loose, compared to the other belts. It was a wider belt than the others, too.
The mechanic at the local gas station used to work at the local Chrysler dealer. I asked him about the power steering belt and he told me there was a different way it had to be adjusted and that it should not be "tight", so he verified the factory adjustment on it. Still, not knowing it should not be tighter (as all belts were supposed to be "tight", it seemed), I sought to make it a bit tighter, but didn't quite get "there", so I left it as it was. Which caused NO problems, just that the belt looked a bit loose when the engine was running. Of course, the dual a/c belts had some harmonic flopping, even when tight.
By the earlier 1970s, the power steering pump was leaning crooked to the motor, but the belt stayed on and the pump still leaned-into the load at full lock, so it looked like it should fall off, but didn't. And it is still that way! Then, when Chrysler went to the solid mount in about '68, Chryslers suffered the same "belt squealing fate" which GM cars had been suffering from for decades. As if that was normal.
The reason for the belt deflection specs in the Chrysler service manual (free download at
www.mymopar.com) is to moderate the loadings on the various shaft bearings/bushings of the engine accessories (alternator, water pump. power steering pump, a/c compressor, and the water pump belt idler pulley (when equipped). Less load means longer life, usually. In that respect, adjusting the belt toward the looser end of the spec, as long as it does not slip/squeal/squawk, that's just fine.
When taking an engine apart once, my late machine shop operative remarked that the owner of the car the engine came out of must have had the belts adjusted very tight. How could he determine that? The upper half of the front main bearing was worn, but the lower half was still new, after about 100K miles.
One other cautionary item on power steering pump systems . . . ONLY use fluid specified specifically for power steering systems. NO automatic transmission fluid. Reason?
While the two fluids are very similar in viscosity, they are designed for two different environments. As far back as 1961, Chevrolet specified a "power steering fluid" for their cars. Chrysler was similar. This was also back when there was one automatic transmission fluid, AQ-Type A, with most makes using it for their earlier power steering fluid. Yet it needed more additivies to make it do its job than a fluid for power steering systems, so a less expensive power steering fluid was formulated just for power steering systems, I suspect.
Yet, it was common practice in the service station industry to use atf to "top off" a power steering system during an oil change or other power steering fuid check. It was not uncommon to need "just a bit", so no issues. But it that "just a bit" was due to a system leak, soon the whole system was red with atf.
When I bought my '67 Newport with 80K miles on it, I noticed the power steering line was "sweating" red fluid from it. I wiped it down and watched it. Same thing again. I noticed that the power steering reservoir fluid was red and smelled of atf. So I emptied the reservoir and refilled it with Chrysler power steering fluid (which was waxy clear). Then started the engine to circulate the fluid. I did that another time before the fluid got more clear. The sweating hose stopped sweating power steering fluid.
On the '66 Newport, I put over 160K on that car and never had any power steering fluid leaks from the pump or hoses. Although the hoses did get some later age issues, it was basically a trouble-free system. Same with our '69 Chevy pickup too. Back then, FEW people knew about a specific power steering fluid outside of the dealerships, unless they read their owner's manual, by observation. But everybody knew that you could use atf to top-off a power steering system.
From my experiences, I wonder if much of the issues with leaks and such are not due to prior use of atf in the power steering systems. FWIW.
Sorry for the length,
CBODY67
