Steering box replacement.

[colinrmitchell]

Howdy.

My steering box recently blew a seal, and is leaking slowly by the pitman arm. I'm looking at just getting a replacement from a wrecking yard. I've never replaced one before or anything. Is there anything I need to know in particular? The way I see it, it's just three bolts, the steering shaft, and two hydraulic lines, but I don't know what I'm talking about.

Any hints or helpful anecdotes?

Thanks,
Colin.

 

[MAKG]

You forgot the Pitman arm.

I strongly recommend against junkyard hydraulic parts, as they are quite difficult to test in the field. Get a reman.

 

[colinrmitchell]

Good deal.

Is it possible to rebuild my old box, to have as a backup?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

You can get a sector shaft seal repair kit from ford, they aren't very expensive. The only problem is that most of the time the reason for the seal to leak is that there is a groove worn in the sealing surface of the sector shaft.

 

[metalmacguyver]

Yes it is as simple as 3 bolts, pitman arm, steering shaft and hydraulic lines. They practiacally fall out of the truck when you pull the last bolt.

 

[Ranger44]

I agree with MAKG. Don't do junkyard. Just take it and buy a reman. You have really no idea the history of the vehicle or gear box.

Fixing the seal is well not fixing the real problem, most likley a worn sector shaft. It'll just start leaking again.

It's not worth trying to rebuild. The tools required cost way more than a reman.

In order to swap out the pitman arms you'll more than likely need to heat it and use a pitman arm puller.

 

[colinrmitchell]

Well, the leak is really slow. I.e., the fluid in the tube drops about 1/2in a day or less. Is there any good additive I can get that might restore the seal good enough for a little while? I don't really have the $140 for the new box right now.

 

[crbnunit]

I have had really good luck replacing the seal once I figured out how to do it. Don't even have to pull the box. Clean everything really well. Repeat step one. Repeat again if it has been leaking long. Get pitman arm puller. Break puller and get another one (I got lucky and got mine off first time. Pull the dust seal out from around the sector shaft. Remove the c-clip holding the seal. Now, here is where it gets messy. Get a pan and put it in a cardboard box (a big, shalow one works best with the top cut short. Fill this with rags or paper towles. Start your truck and turn the steering full lock. This will crank the pressure in the system way up and blow the old seal out. If you haven't taken the steps listed above, it will look like the Exxon Valdez ran aground in your grage. It makes a real mess! Reclean everything. Examine the sector shaft for the above mentioned grooves. If there are grooves you can get your fingernail into, you made a mess for nothing. If there is not, oil the new seal and slide it on. Seems like there are several spacers and dust seals to deal with. Follow the istilation instructions that come with the kit. Now comes the fun part. I installed and blew three seels untill I figured I was not seating the c-clip fully into the groove and the pressure would blow the seal out. So, special tool, part #00000. Take a 11/4" rigid pipe coupling and cut it long enough to use the Pitman arm nut to push on the c-clip (no room for a punch and hammer). Buy two, they are cheap and easy to cut too short! Install the seal and c-clip, slid the coupling on the shaft, put a big washer on it and crank the pitman arm nut untill you hear the c-clip snap into it's groove. Install the dust shield, Pitman arm, hook up the steering and go wheel!

 

[Evan]

I had a bad leak a few years ago. I flushed the system out and filled it with PS Fluid + Stop Leak, available at Wal-Mart for a few bucks.

It has been bone dry ever since. That's with turning 35" tires on a lifted, locked front end. Can't say Stop Leak will work for you, but it worked great for me.

Otherwise, reman, unless the yard sells used ones dirt cheap.

 

[colinrmitchell]

Great advice, crbnunit! I'll try what Evan says first (cheaper is better in my eyes). If that doesn't work, I'll try replacing the seal like you said. Any place in particular to get the new seal kit, or just NAPA or Autozone or something?

P.S.: I won't have the Pitman arm as a problem, I just replaced the old one with a dropped arm last fall. So hopefully it comes off easy!

 

[crbnunit]

I used NAPA kits. Pretty straight forward and has good instructions. Seems like they were $23 or so.

 

[TireIron]

crb, the only difference I had when I did mine both times is the c-clip goes on last, after the dust seal... even from the factory when taking things apart it was c-clip then dust seal then main seal and you didnt use the spacers at all. I just replaced it the way it came out from the factory. If you put the dust seal on after the c-clip you will have a bitch of a time trying to get the dust seal out of there if you have to replace it again sometime to get to the c-clip. With the dust seal inside the clip then you just have to take the clip out and use the truck on steering full lock trick to pop out both the main seal and the dust seal.

 

[crbnunit]

You could be right, I really don't remember the order of assembly. That was several years ago (it hasn't leaked a drop since) but I do remember a dust seal right at the end of the housing. The c-clip was about 11/4" inside the housing. I just used a seal pick and pulled the outer seal out. No fuss. I'll see if I still have the installation instructions filed away somewhere.

 

[canyoncritter]

check rock auto for prices,

and to save a few buck do a google search of rock auto discount code. ethier 5 or 10%...

 

[colinrmitchell]

Well, I went to NAPA, and they couldn't find anything in their system about seal kits. So I found this site, Pro Steering, and they sell full rebuild kits for the steering box for $17. I'm gonna give that a go first. I'm hoping I can get that to work and save the $130 on a reman box.