2001 Blazer with a vortec engine. This weekend just replaced the power steering pump for the 3rd time in 6 months. First time replaced the pump thought it was cause it's an older vehicle. 2nd time thought it was cause I didn't replace the lines. So new pump and new lines. This time had no signs it was going out till it had stiff steering and dumping fluid out of the front of the pump.

What I'm wondering now is if the gear box is building up pressure and blowing out the seals and causing the issues? Has anyone else had this issue? Also how hard is it to replace the gear box? I'm somewhat mechanically inclined. Watch YouTube videos and check forums for how tos on everything I've done and willing to buy or borrow whatever tools I need to replace it with

 

I recently replaced my steering box. I took it out from the front. You will need a torque wrench that can go up to 185 ft-lbs. I borrowed one from a local parts store.

Here is the link to my write-up.
https://blazerforum.com/forum/builds...15/#post751971

I can't say anything about diagnosing the steering gear. There must be a way of doing that to avoid the time and expense of replacing a steering gear.

 

I also recently had the steering box out and found it to be very simple. You might be interested in rebuilding the steering box and steering pump instead of replacing them. Seal kits are available, and there are good videos on YouTube.

 

You should definitely flush and replace all the fluid from the system as well. My father-in-law just went through a similar situation with his GM where debris from the first failed pump remained in the system and killed two more replacement pumps before the shop figured out what was going on and flushed out the whole system.