If you haven't guessed by the thread title. I replaced my power steering pump today. I thought I would get crafty and order a reman pump without a pulley for 150.00 instead of the 350.00 FCP wanted for a new pump with the pulley. I had the pulley puller and installer so why not? Why? because these bleeping Volvo pulleys are made of plastic and the pulley hub that the tool pulls against is the softest alloy I've ever encountered. Instead of removing the pulley as this tool has done countless times, it turned the hub into a piece of abstract art. The pulley itself didn't budge. With the plastic pulley heat was not an option. I have never deformed a pulley using this tool but there is a first time for everything. The puller actually started cutting grooves into the pulley. Net result? I had to pay the dealership convenience price of 525.00 for the same pump FCP sells for 350.00. It was that or miss work. The old pump was weeping fluid out the front and I wasn't about to risk another drive should it let go completely.

Lesson learned the hard way. Don't be tempted by the price of the reman pump. It's a trick! A farce! A trap! Buy the one with the pulley and make your life easier. On the bright side the new pumps pulley is metal so I should be able to use heat to help coax it off in the future should I lapse back into my stupidity.

Ok, rant over. No promises that I won't repost when I see my bank statement though...

 

Just a quick followup. It turns out that the shaft that seats in the hole that the puller uses to extract the pulley was just a shade too thick for the hole on the pulley. If you look at the inside of the pulley you'll see where the shaft started to thread into the pulley. Like I said, very soft metal. The pullers threads didn't even lose their coating. This puller will not work on Volvo power steering pumps unless you get creative with putting things in the hole to make the hole a bit more shallow or find a shaft to go on the end of one of the puller rods that is in between the short nub and the longer one:


Best to probably spend the $$$ on the volvo puller if you're determined to go this route. you could use a T30 1/4 inch drive torx socket placed in the hole to get the needed clearance. Here is a youtube video detailing the work around just because I am that kind of obsessive.