hello all. i believe i need to change my vacuum pump in my truck. i get 0 PSI of boost at all. period. :wtf: i checked the vacuum pump lines and the orange line that attaches to the rubber one off the vacuum pump was disconnected. checked for vacuum and all that. got nothing even directly at the pump. now my problem is that how in the world is the best way to get this old pump out? i really do not want to make it a huge project by pulling the alternator and all that stuff. i know it is held on by 3 bolts so what is the best way to get those 3 bolts out? can the pulley from the old one be "re-used" on the new one. i see a threaded hole in the new pump shaft but the old one has no bolt holding the pulley on. i'm guessing its pressed on there?

hello all. i believe i need to change my vacuum pump in my truck. i get 0 PSI of boost at all. period. :wtf: i checked the vacuum pump lines and the orange line that attaches to the rubber one off the vacuum pump was disconnected. checked for vacuum and all that. got nothing even directly at the pump. now my problem is that how in the world is the best way to get this old pump out? i really do not want to make it a huge project by pulling the alternator and all that stuff. i know it is held on by 3 bolts so what is the best way to get those 3 bolts out? can the pulley from the old one be "re-used" on the new one. i see a threaded hole in the new pump shaft but the old one has no bolt holding the pulley on. i'm guessing its pressed on there?

Not sure on the '96, if the alternator has to come off or not, on the earlier models the AC is above the vacuum pump. It can stay on but is much easier to see what you are doing with it off, and is only 3 bolts to remove it, you should be able to see if the alternator poses any restriction, I.e.: brackets overlap and if it has to come off at all.

Not that bad of a job to get on and off, one of the bolts is easiest accessed with a socket through a hole in the pulley

The pulley can be re-used, must in fact, since the new pump will probably not have one on it, although some vendors do sell a pump with a pulley on it.

The bolt hole in the shaft is for the puller to remove/install the pulley.

Special pulley installer/remover tool require to R&R the pulley, as for power steering pump, and such, can be bought, or perhaps rented or borrowed.

Pay attention when installing the pulley on the new pump, that the front of the pulley is flush with the end of the shaft, to assure proper belt tracking...

I just replaced the vacuum pump on my 1997 c2500HD. It went pretty well, what I did was remove the belt then remove the belt tensioner. With that stuff out of the way you can reach the 3 10mm bolts with a wrench. When you remove the pump make sure you observe where the vacuum line comes up behind the alternater so you can snake the new one up into the same spot.
I got the vacuum pump from ssdieselsupply.com $140, pulley $25. If you purchase them together they will assemble the pulley to the pump. The only downside is shipping is really high from ssdiesel.
If a 96 is the same as a 97 you shouldn't have any problems.

Ok,

So I replaced my vacuum pump about six months ago. Got the pump from Napa, I needed a new pulley and that the dealer had, cheap too. Napa put the pulley on for me for free.

But, what I wished I had done was just gone with the Heath TurboMaster and eliminated the pump alltogether. From reading on here and from reading on Heath's site, the boost will be better and more reliable that the vacm system and all that is related. Total price is about the same but more reliable with Heath TM and then you just go with a 1" shorter belt. The part number can be found on here easy too.

Just my thoughts...might help.