I bought a new pump from Bus Depot and haven't looked back.  Steering is much lighter that the rebuilt one it replaced and the "hydraulic whine" is gone.  Just make sure to flush the fluid.

Bob C

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jared Planter
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2019 4:43 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Power steering woes

Hey all

I have an '87 westy GL with the original 2.1L that just rolled over 180k
miles. Relative to this conversation the power steering pump and rack are
both original.

About 2 weeks ago the power steering belt randomly popped off while
driving. I thought it was odd but no big deal and put it back on properly
tightened. About 2 days ago my wife started hearing a quiet whine while
idling/driving and a very loud whine while turning and felt a respective
reverberation through the steering wheel. I finally got around to
investigating and found a long slit on the driver side steering rack boot
and grease all over the lower control arm. I also confirmed my suspicion
that the whining was coming from the power steering pump.

The pump issue seems pretty straight forward, just replace it. I'm on the
fence between the new pump on GoWesty or a rebuilt pump from VanCafe. Does
anyone have experience with either?

The rack issue seems a little more complex to me. I'm not sure how to
determine if I should replace the whole rack or just the boots and if I'll
need an alignment or not. Thoughts here?

Thanks in advance!

Jared

Links
---------
GoWesty Pump:
https://www.gowesty.com/product/steering/24530/hydraulic-power-steering-pump
VanCafe Pump: https://www.vancafe.com/255422155X-p/251422155x.htm