Steering Gear Rebuild

[XtonVX]

I bought my vx about 5 months ago with only 52,000 miles on it. It lived most its life in Texas and about 1 year in California. So it's in really great shape, virtually rust free. However, I noticed a slow power steering fluid leak that left a small puddle on my garage floor every day. It wasn't real bad, I just had to add a little AT fluid every few days. I was annoyed by this so I decided to fix the leak.

I identified the source of the leak to be the steering gear. So I bought a seal kit off eBay for about $25 and went to work. At first, I wasn't able to get the pitman arm off the gear nor the pitman arm off the ball joint. I bought a $12 pitman arm puller from Harbor Freight, which I bent trying to separate the pitman arm from the ball joint. After reading a few threads about pitman arm removal I pretty much learned that the one key ingredient necessary, which I didn't really use much in my first attempt, is shock, as in hammer applied. So off I went to Harbor Freight and got them to give me a replacement puller.

On my second attempt to separate the pitman arm from the ball joint, I first backed the castle nut off the ball joint flush with the end of the stud (On my first attempt I took it off completely and actually deformed the end of the stud with the puller, which I was trying to avoid in my second attempt). I then placed a hex nut on the end of the stud/castle nut to which I then attached the pitman arm puller so as not to damage the stud any further. I put a c-clamp across the 2 legs of the puller to keep them from bending outward. I applied some good torque to the puller and then proceeded to take two hammers and repeatedly hit the pitman arm oppositely so as not to put any bending stress on the shaft. I did this for as little while before repositioning the puller so I could bang on two different points across the pitman arm. After a little while longer, the arm popped right off the ball joint.

Next, I unbolted and disconnected the steering gear from all of its attachment points. In order to get it completely out of the car, I had to remove the plastic radiator shroud and loosen the fluid cooler line to make enough room. After wrestling with it a while it finally did come out. Into my workbench vice it went.

Removing the pitman arm from the output shaft was a lot easier than I thought. I used the same method as before. Puller attached and opposite hammer action released it in no time. Took the gear apart and replaced several o-rings and seals. Put everything back together and reinstalled. No more leak.

I did notice a lot of steering play so after about 200 miles I adjusted the output shaft to take out all of the play. Don't know if that had anything to do with it or not but a few days later the output shaft seals started leaking buckets of fluid. Has anyone out there experienced anything similar? I'm thinking that either the $25 eBay seal kit is worthless (the OEM dealer version is $165) or I screwed something up in installing those seals. I was very careful in orienting them properly per the service manual. When I inserted the output shaft, I put duct tape over the serrated end to avoid damaging the seals. I did have to remove the shaft and reinstall it after the first time because of a problem I had with the worm gear but I used the duct tape each time.

Does anyone know what size the two lower output shaft seals are? I may try to source them and replace them alone rather than buying a whole new seal kit. At the same time maybe I can source some better quality seals. If all else fails, I may just look for a used steering gear from a junk yard or possibly a fellow forum member? Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[tom4bren]

Sorry I can't help but please make sure to post your progress. I'll be doing the same thing soon. My leak is only 1/2 bottle of PS fluid per year but I still gotta get'r done.

[XtonVX]

I contacted the company who supplied me the seal kit to either get two new lower pitman shaft seals or at least find out the sizes so I can source them somewhere else. It's odd to me that there's no snap ring at the bottom of the lower most seal to keep it from getting blown out, like most other cars have. I was thinking about maybe just finding the right size and squeezing one in there even though there's no groove for it. Anyway, once I get it figured out I'll post my results. I took a bunch of photos previously and I'll try to take some more and post them when I'm all done.

[XtonVX]

Ok, so I decided to try to find out why the gear started leaking again. I got underneath and pulled the pitman arm, leaving it attached to the ball joint. This wasn't very hard since I had it off recently but it didn't come off right away either. I did have to work on it for a little while. I then removed the radiator shroud which created enough space for me to be able to unbolt the top plate and pull out the sector shaft.

Once out I could inspect the lower seal and dust seal. And voila, the lower seal was damaged. I'm guessing when I inserted the sector shaft originally, which I had to do twice, I must have damaged the seal. So now I know to be a lot more careful when inserting the sector shaft. I think next time I will use electrical tape to cover the serrated edges of the shaft rather than duct tape. And I will also lube it really well with AT fluid. For now,, I need to find a new seal.

In taking measurements of the shaft diameter, the bore at the dust seal location, which I'm hoping is identical to the oil seal, and whatever good measurements I could get off the damaged seal, I believe what I need is a 32mm ID x 40mm OD x 5-6 mm thick seal. I'm not sure if there's a special material that I need. Maybe someone could comment? I do know it's all rubber or plastic, no metal, because it has to flex to be able to be inserted into its groove. That's why there's no snap ring. The seal is captured inside a machined groove inside the gear housing.

In trying to source this seal, I have not had a lot of luck. I can pick a close one up for about $7 on eBay from Hong Kong that's 6.4 mm thick and that I think would work. I just don't feel like waiting 2-4 weeks to get it. Does anyone out there have a domestic source? Any help would be appreciated. I'll keep posting as I progress.

[XtonVX]

Success (no more leaks,so far). The new seal kit came in. I bought this one on eBay for about $32. It was pretty much identical to the first one I bought from a different seller. So I pulled out the busted lower sector shaft seal. The inner lip had a couple of cuts and a small section of that lip was permanently deformed. I remember when initially inserting it into its seat it not wanting to seat itself properly. This time around I was very careful to make sure it was in there right. Even though the lower dust seal did not look like it was damaged at all, I pulled it out as well and put in the new one.

Before inserting the sector shaft, I wrapped one layer of electrical tape around the splines for the pitman arm. I made sure to stretch it very taut so it would be as thin and tight as possible. I then put some transmission fluid on the entire shaft as well as the taped area and also the seals in the housing. On my first attempt to insert the sector shaft, it got hung up on the teeth of the input shaft. So I pulled it back out. The input shaft gear that meshes with the sector shaft can rotate and apparently it had moved slightly from its original position when I pulled out the sector shaft. So I just rotated it back (eyed it up) and tried again. Success. This time the sector shaft went in very smoothly all the way into its bottom position.

Putting the top plate back on was straight forward. In the event I would have to remove the pitman arm again in the future I put some anti seize compound on the splines of the shaft and reattached the pitman arm.

While I was at it, I figured I may as well put new seals and gaskets into the pump. So I pulled it, opened it up and replaced some o-rings and the main rear gasket (bought that kit from Ebay for about $12). I decided to leave the original main shaft seal as I saw no evidence of any leak there. This job was pretty easy.

Lastly, even though I saw no evidence of it leaking, I replaced the high pressure hose ($40 ish from Rockauto). Put everything back together (gear, pump, fan belt, hose, fan shroud and so far, so good. My garage floor has been dry for 3 days now. What a relief.

I noticed a lot of people reading this post but not a lot of comments. I would guess that many more of you may be experiencing similar issues with your steering gears. My VX only has 52k on it and it's virtually rust free. It lived most of its life in Texas and California and looks like it was never taken off road. I would think higher mileage, more abused vehicles would have this problem. Anyway, having gone through this exercise I'll gladly help answer any questions for anyone that may be thinking about taking on this project. It really wasn't very difficult, just took a bit of patience.

I'll keep everyone posted in case my gear rebuild doesn't hold up.

[SlowPro48]

I noticed a lot of people reading this post but not a lot of comments.

Thanks for sharing your adventure. I suspect you're not getting many comments because the commiseration factor is low. Not many owners have had steering gear problems. It's surprising your gearbox was leaking at only 52K miles. I had to put new seals and bearings in the Saginaw 808 on my pickup last month but it's 30 years old with 327K miles on it...

Couple tips for next time:

The metallurgy of those cheap chinese Harbor Freight pullers isn't the best so when you try to put several hundred ft-lbs of torque on them the claws will break. Advance Auto, Auto Zone, etc. will loan you a high quality pitman arm puller for free. (and their rebuild kits are priced as good or better than those on ebay but you don't have to pay shipping) Squirt some penetrating oil on the sector shaft above the pitman arm a day ahead of time, put the rattle gun to the puller and that pitman arm WILL come off in a matter of seconds without all that beating and banging.

Clear packing tape makes a good protector when installing seals on splined shafts. It's thin, strong and slick.

[XtonVX]

Thanks for the input. As to why my steering gear was leaking with so few miles, I have a sneaky suspicion the previous owner may have topped up the fluid with power steering fluid rather than the required Automatic Transmission Fluid.

[tom4bren]

Another tip is to schlep some anti-sieze on the inside of the pitman arm so removal is a bit easier next time. I hope there won't be a next time though.

[VX MileHigh]

The metallurgy of those cheap chinese Harbor Freight pullers isn't the best so when you try to put several hundred ft-lbs of torque on them the claws will break. Advance Auto, Auto Zone, etc. will loan you a high quality pitman arm puller for free. (and their rebuild kits are priced as good or better than those on ebay but you don't have to pay shipping) Squirt some penetrating oil on the sector shaft above the pitman arm a day ahead of time, put the rattle gun to the puller and that pitman arm WILL come off in a matter of seconds without all that beating and banging.



When you refer to a rattle gun are you talking about a pneumatic gun with a ball joint fork on it? Or is that too much for the pitman arm?

[SlowPro48]

No, not too much - just the opposite! I think a typical ball joint sized pickle fork would be too small for the big end of the Pitman arm. Even if you've got one that fits, I wouldn't recommend it because the considerable pressure required to remove the Pitman arm would be applied to the bearings, bushings, gearbox housing, etc. The type of puller I was talking about has two claws that grip the Pitman arm and a bolt that, when turned, puts pressure directly on the end of the sector shaft to pull the arm off - so there's no strain whatsoever transmitted to the gearbox and its components.

And yes, rattle gun = pnuematic impact wrench. You can turn the puller bolt with a breaker bar, big ratchet or something of that ilk - but it will certainly speed up the job if you use an impact wrench!

[samneil2000]

Thanks for the input. As to why my steering gear was leaking with so few miles, I have a sneaky suspicion the previous owner may have topped up the fluid with power steering fluid rather than the required Automatic Transmission Fluid.
Ok, I think that's the first time I've read that. Mine has been leaking and I picked up a bottle of ps fluid at auto zone and have been topping it off... So we are supposed to run atf fluid?