Power steering pump failure?

[Buggyman]

I have a 1998 ranger 4wd that has sat for over a year and I am now working on the heads. I was able to start it but only drove it on the driveway due to it not having insurance on it yet. The power steering pump made a very loud deep whining noise and pulsated very rapidly when trying to steer at all, obviously worse when the truck was stationary. It looks like the high pressure line has leaked for quite sometime at the fitting going into the pump, not sure if the pump has been ran without fluid or not. Does this sound like a pump problem or could there be an issue with the rack as well? What all should I replace while I have the motor torn down? Truck has 250k miles and I do not want to sink too much money into it but I would love to get a few more years out of this truck.
Thanks guys,
Philip

 

[adsm08]

Sounds like air in the lines. It can happen from something as simple as turning the wheel with the engine off. Run it for a while, cycle the steering with the engine running, it should clear up.