I have a 99 2wd silverado with a 5.3L. I had noticed that my brake pedal was harder than usual lately. Tonight on my way home from work my power steering went out and I lost all my fluid from muscling my way home and causing a hose to come off the rack. Is the hard brake pedal and power steering problem related? I noticed the brake pedal seemed fine after pump went out. My system is a conventional hydraulic and not a hydroboost. Also, is it safe to assume that it is a pump issue and not a rack issue? Please Help!

 

Replace the faulty hose and make sure the belt is not slipping. Bleed all the air out of the system and see if that fixes the problem. Hopefully loss of fluid did'nt toast the pump. Brake issue is seperate and not related I think. I would make sure the booster is good as a faulty booster will cause a hard pedal. Get a Hayes manual.Lots of good repair help in them can go a long way in getting the right info to diagnose the issues.