Hi I'm planning to replace the power steering pump and water pump this Saturday and was wondering roughly how long I should give myself. The missus wants us to spend some time together in the afternoon. Recon I could get it done in the morning easily? Using the Haynes scale for mechanical competence (!), I would rate myself at a 4.

Any speedy tips?

I really don't want to have a naggy missus and a non-working truck!

you nee to take the pulley off to get to the bolts so you need a either 5 or 6 mm Allen key for that, you need a 13mm and 16mm spanner too.

the fluid unions are quite tricky to undo because they are so close to the front crossmember, they are both different sizes too I think they are 19mm and 22mm from memory. I found the best way to undo them was to use an deep offset box spanner.

I predict your mrs will have the hump with you when you are still out there swearing at it at midnight.

A rite PITA job then!? It'll maybes have to wait!

Nah not really no, I could probably do it in less than half hour tbh.

Regarding the power steering pump. I have thoughts on removing my power steering system for better milage, and one thing less that can give me problems.

Any thoughts on this?

I would have thought just removing the pump but retaining the power rack would make the steering considerably heavier than a non PAS car and not a good idea at all. Removing the power rack is not as simple as it sounds as the column is different too, there's a thread on here somewhere about retro fitting PAS. Basically don't do it! I don't think the PAS is particularity troublesome anyway, you'd basically be creating a lot of work to prevent something that may never happen anyway. IF you're PAS was playing up then maybe consider it but not as a precautionary measure.

The load that the power steering pump puts on the engine is negligible when you are driving along, a little bit more at full lock but even then it's very little load... You would save more fuel mileage by throwing the spare wheel out to be honest.