Back after a lot of work and the Carnaval parade:
About the pump: We spent a good 10 minutes steering from lock to lock, belt tight and routed properly.
Steering did not get any lighter and pump wasn't struggling at the lock positions. Inside of my old pump was replaced, steers like a dream now
Only thing I needed to do when I got home last weekend, was tighten a few hose clamps to stop fluid leaking out and add a little fluid.
It only takes the tiniest bit of air to make it feel inoperative...
You need to swing it lock to lock, left to right, multiple times.. Make sure the belt is tight and routed properly.. It took a couple days to work out the dead spots... I noticed it most at low speeds like pulling into a parking space, but I worked out the air bubbles and it worked great after that.. So.. make sure you spent enough time bleeding it, AND you topped it off after doing so....
I think I spent a good 5 minutes or so just going left to right to left... over and over again....
In other news, truck starts like a dream, swapped out different glow cards, but the initial cold glow cycle takes about 30-40 seconds.. Got a new (2nd hand) card and kept my old one as a spare. Don't want to convert to push-button just yet. Don't even need to push the go-pedal to start.
Had to do some cleaning at my grandparents place, took a full bed of junk to the local dump. Truck didn't even notice the weight.
Read some thing about transmissions in the last few posts.
True that if you take care of them, they take care of you. I change fluid and filter every year.
I start driving when all is still cold, but take it easy until everything warms up. The TH400 is a sturdy transmission.