[wmrdalydvm]

A friend is restoring a 53 Studebaker and has installed a manual Mustang II rack. His engine however has a power steering pump. Is there a way to disable the pump and leave the pulley? or is there a way to remove the pump and replace the pulley with a dummy pulley just to keep the belt tension proper
Any advice is appreciated
Bill

[66GMC]

Yes, you can replace that pump with an idler.

You may have to fab something up to mount it securely to the engine and to make it adjustable.

Ford used to have a couple of v-belt idlers in the 70's and 80's.
Gates # 38039 (see attached picture)

91 Ford Ranger 3.0 V6. Gates # 38049 (picture attached)
This one has the adjustment slot, but comes with a sepentine belt pulley which could be removed and replaced with a v-velt pulley, like Gates # 38038 which uses the 17/32" v-belt.

Tip: Virtually ALL idler pulleys seem to use the popular 6203 ball bearing.

Agricultural equipment or lawn and garden equipment might still use some of them (as belt tighteners) as well.

[S10xGN]

He could just take the spring and valve out of the pump (save it for later). The fluid will just recycle internally and since there's no load, there shouldn't be any excess heating of the fluid...

Russ