Dodge/Western/Fischer plow/steering pump conversion

[smiley]

I bought a Dodge plow truck that supposedly had a "slight" leak in the lift pump. That slight leak turned out to be a quart in 5 minutes. It's a good thing I chained the plow up to drive it the 15 miles home. I found they had pried against the pump body to tighten the belt, distorted the side and then tried pounding it out with a hammer. While looking at it I noticed the power steering pump looked very similar to the plow pump except for the reservoir tank vs the remote reservoir for the plow. I got one out of inventory and except for the tank, they looked identical right down to the mounting bracket. A little on line research proved them to be the exact same (Saginaw I think) pumps. They were used extensively on Dodge, Western and Fischer plows and other applications including some conversions for small dump truck lifts.
The photo of the rear shows the plow pump on the left with the neck for the return line from the reservoir and the power steering pump on the right with the adapter I made from a
1 1/4x 3/4 adapter plumbing fitting. I had to plug the original power steering return line with a 5/16 bolt and clamp. The front photo was just to show the brackets are the same. I had 3 other pumps with different brackets but all could have been swapped out.
It seems to work fine and if it develops any troubles, I'll update this post.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Good work finding that out.

 

[svcguy]

Very worthwhile information. Thanks!

 

[harryhood]

Very nice fix. I'm very interested to hear how this worked out for you. I have a 79 dodge w100 with same plow setup. For now I've fixed my leaking hydraulic pump for the plow with jb weld, but would like to know that swapping to a PS pump is an option if needed.

 

[smiley]

No snow to plow yet but moving it in and out of the garage and around the place it's working great. There shouldn't be any problems as it is the same pump, I just changed it to a remote reserve. The only thing I'd do different is use a 45 or 90 degree fitting instead of the straight one in the photo. That would make routing the hose from the reserve tank a little easier.
Be careful about prying on the tank when tightening the belt. That's how the previous owner bunged it up.

 

[harryhood]

No snow to plow yet but moving it in and out of the garage and around the place it's working great. There shouldn't be any problems as it is the same pump, I just changed it to a remote reserve. The only thing I'd do different is use a 45 or 90 degree fitting instead of the straight one in the photo. That would make routing the hose from the reserve tank a little easier.
Be careful about prying on the tank when tightening the belt. That's how the previous owner bunged it up.

excellent. thanks for the information

 

[smiley]

I should have noted that according to everything I can find, the pumps are the same internaly, just the tank/housings are different.

 

[metalcaster]

I had fabricated a plow mount with hydraulic lift twenty five years ago on a 78 bronco. I used a power steering pump from a caterpillar forklift that didn't have a tank attached. This was bolted to a bracket on the front of the engine and driven off of another belt. Reeked havoc on my gas mileage, but it did work for two or three years.

 

[pat32rf]

Anyone know the actual rpm that those pumps spin? I think I have a couple in the barn....

 

[smiley]

Anyone know the actual rpm that those pumps spin? I think I have a couple in the barn....

I think it is pretty close to engine rpm because I think the pump pulley is about the same dia. as the crankshaft pulley. I'll look tomorrow.