Steering box leak

[JerryC]

I've got a leak that looks be at the steering shaft, that seal is relatively inexpensive. The box is fine otherwise, and I'd hate to replace it with a reman and get on that is sloppier than what I have.

Lucas stop leak has slowed it down a lot. It's just that after four years of dripping on the garage floor I'm about ready to take a shot at fixing it.

Any insight on pulling the box down and replacing that seal?

 

[deathbypsi]

Changing the seals is actually pretty easy. Ive done it twice with the box still on the truck. Just pull the pitman and sometimes you can get seal to pop right out without messing with anything else.

 

[JerryC]

It's leaking at the other end, or I should say that it leaks so bad there that I can't really tell if it is leaking anywhere else I figure I'd fix that leak and go from there unless when I get it out it becomes obvious that there are other leaks or issues.

I guessing that I'll need to:
remove the steering shaft from the steering box
remove the pitman arm from the steering box
disconnect the lines and let it drain
remove the bolts holding it to the frame.

Am I missing anything?

 

[deathbypsi]

Make sure its not just a line before you dig into it

 

[JerryC]

I'm sure it's leaking up from the steering shaft side, but not what other problems there may be. I just might replace it all (box, pump, lines) at once if it looks bad.

 

[mplummer08]

My pump had a pretty good leak at the bottom of the fluid reservoir. Made a real mess of that area.

Sent from my SM-G892U using Tapatalk

 

[JerryC]

I thought unhooking the steering shaft would be the easy part of the job, but no.
I got the bolt out easy enough but I can't move the shaft up enough to get it of the steering box.

 

[JerryC]

Make sure its not just a line before you dig into it

Might be a line.

I got the steering shaft off, had to loosen the bolt-n-nut at the top of the shaft where it connects to the column. now that I can get a clearer look at the seal area it is dirty but not wet like I would expect from this big of a leak.

I don't see where it is coming from but I do see that the two PS lines are touching (more like jammed together) and crammed in between the fran and steering box. Just like the rest of the steering box area, there's loads of dirt/oil there. I'll have to pull the lines and check for holes.

As for the ripped up boot at the pitman arm to drag link, I got a new boot from Energy Suspension at the "Zone". PN# 9.13101

 

[JerryC]

Knock on wood... Looks like lines are going to be the fix.
The seats in the box for the lines looked like they had grit ground into them. I cleaned them best I could and put the new lines on and hoped for the best. I pulled something out of the threads for the low pressure line that may have been thread tape. It was a real pain to get that line on, it hits the box and puts pressure on the fitting. Probably why the old line leaked and why there was thread tape on it. I've only run it for about 30 minutes and a couple of miles, time will tell.