Steering Gear Rebuild

[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.

[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?

[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!