Chrysler Repair: power steering, crank pulley, chrysler lebaron

Question
I have just purchased a 1985 chrysler lebaron turbo for our son to go to college in. The steering wheel is hard to turn.  Please advise.  A couple peolpe have said that we need to buy a belt.  we have purchased two and they not to fit.  please advise on what we need to do to get this car drivable for our son.  thanks in advance for all your help

Answer
Hi Misty,
Was there no belt or did the old belt slip even after adustment, when you first got the car? If so, then you need a new belt for sure. I notice that the power steering belt appears to go around the inner most pulley on the crankshaft, so that means you have to remove the other two belts in order to get to the power steering belt's pulley, correct? That is a bit of a hassle, but whoever is doing the job should be able to get the proper belt size. If he has loosened the adjustment bolt (from above) and also the pivot bolt (from under the car) so that the pump can move back and forth freely to allow the belt to go on and then get tightened down, then the only thing to do is keep trying a different size of belt until you get one that is big enough to go around both pulleys when the pump is as close as it can be to the crank pulley, and yet when you "lever" it away from that pulley it will get tight enough before the adjustment range has reached its limit. The belts are sold by cross-sectional size and diameter, so look at the numbers on the belts you have tried and go one step either way in the diameter to get the proper size (never use a different size cross-section from that used in the spec for the engine). Once you find the right size, install it, and then to adjust it insert a 1/2" breaker bar in the 1/2" square hole near the adustment bolt and torque it until the belt is tight to the extent that when you press on the belt half-way between the two pulleys it will deflect exactly 1/4". Then tighten both bolts to 40 foot pounds.
If there wasn't a problem with the belt to begin with, then put the old one back on and adjust its tension as above. Other possibilities are that the power steering fluid is low (check the dip stick in the pump reservoir), the tire pressures are too low, the pump is defective, the steering rack is worn or binding, or the steering column couplings are binding. The latter three items would need to be checked out by a shop mechanic.
Let me know more about this after you have considered the suggestions in light of the history of the problem.
Roland