Steering gear pitman seal

[deadbeat]

I have searched and read some about this, and even found a borg warner article that said to change the seal the following way. Remove pitman arm, remove snap ring. Start truck, turn wheel and let the pressure blow the seal, replace seal. Does this work, I bought the timken seals, washers, and new snap ring but I want to be prepared before I do this. I have replaced the pitman arm, have the puller, and most any tool I think I would need. I have never done this and want to make sure I have no steering leaks before putting on my hydroboost that is all laying in the garage waiting.

 

[RawbDidIt]

I have searched and read some about this, and even found a borg warner article that said to change the seal the following way. Remove pitman arm, remove snap ring. Start truck, turn wheel and let the pressure blow the seal, replace seal. Does this work, I bought the timken seals, washers, and new snap ring but I want to be prepared before I do this. I have replaced the pitman arm, have the puller, and most any tool I think I would need. I have never done this and want to make sure I have no steering leaks before putting on my hydroboost that is all laying in the garage waiting.

I never thought to do that, but that seems like a giant mess for no real reason. All you really need to get this done is a screw, pliers, snap ring pliers, and a strong magnetic screwdriver. I did this with the steering box out of the truck. The steps I took were:

Remove serpentine belt
Remove bolt from lower steering shaft
Compress steering shaft to release from steering box
Place drain pan underneath steering box
Remove hydraulic hoses with 18mm flange nut wrench
Remove driver's side front wheel
Remove 3 bolts securing the steering box located inside the driver's side front wheel well
Remove castle nut from center link on pitman arm
Use pickle and dead blow hammer to release pitman arm from center link
Pull steering box from truck. Easiest way I found was to pull from underneath, pulling it forward over front crossmember.
With steering box out, pull the pitman arm using pitman arm puller

I don't remember the order for the seal, so make sure you lay them out in the correct order, and you're going to need some lube, you can use clean power steering fluid, I used grease.

Grease the new seal components
Pull old seal boot. Clean, then grease and lay with new seal components
Pull snap ring. This may be broken which can be difficult to remove. Be careful not to gouge or mark the pitman shaft or the steering box housing or your seal won't work and you'll need more parts

Next up, you'll need to pull four more components: outer seal, inner seal, nylon washer, metal washer (again, not positive on the order, place on worldbench in the order you pulled them, so you can replace with new components in reverse order). The seals and nylon rings can be pulled with coarse threaded screw, just be sure to hammer it little by little into the center of the seals cross section. Be very careful not to mar the housing or the pitman shaft. When you get to the metal washer, you can use a magnetic screwdriver to remove, just turn on side and insert screwdriver, then moving it around the shaft while pulling out, the washer should follow, just be patient. I suppose you could use compressed air on one of the hydraulic lines, and plug the other and the ring should blow free. I wouldn't use the power steering pump itself for a few reasons. One, you run the risk of spewing power steering fluid all over your garage floor. Two, you have a leak, so pouring brand new fluid into a system just to blow the seal and have to replace it again seems wasteful. Three, anytime you run a hydraulic pump with no fluid reduces the life of the pump. I know it's just a few seconds, but it's a few unnecessary seconds.

Follow instructions in reverse for reinstall with the exception of putting the bolts that hold the steering box onto the front subframe in a little bit before attaching pitman arm to center link. After attaching pitman arm to center link, torque bolts to spec.

Also, if you need to replace your rag joint, now is the time, the lower steering shaft is half removed anyways.

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[deadbeat]

Thanks, Im replacing the pump so that isnt a concern. I was trying to not to pull the gear, but i may have to. That is second resort.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Thanks, Im replacing the pump so that isnt a concern. I was trying to not to pull the gear, but i may have to. That is second resort.

It's not as hard as it seems, the pump is a bigger pain in the ass because of removing and replacing the pulley while it's installed.

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[deadbeat]

Ive replaced 3 or 4 of them, thought just blowing it out would be the simplest way, but unsure if it works.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Ive replaced 3 or 4 of them, thought just blowing it out would be the simplest way, but unsure if it works.

Might, but I'd keep the sawdust handy

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[Schurkey]

Yes, it works. Yes, it's messy. Yes, you'll want some kitty litter, Simple Green, or Purple Power. A pressure washer is nice.

Yes, it's ten times easier than pulling the steering gear.

 

[deadbeat]

Ok, can you tell me how the seals go back in? I have a thick, a thin, 2 washers. The diagram provided is useless to me. And, do I need to reconnect the pitman arm for more pressure after removing the snap ring?

 

[RawbDidIt]

Ok, can you tell me how the seals go back in? I have a thick, a thin, 2 washers. The diagram provided is useless to me. And, do I need to reconnect the pitman arm for more pressure after removing the snap ring?

If you're going to do it that way, I'd put the pitman arm back on after removing the snap ring. This way you'll see the seal components in the order they're intended to be put in. Otherwise, you can pull up a YouTube video...

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[deadbeat]

The mess is no big deal, my name is Jesse, they call me messy Jesse for a reason. I gotta see how the seals go back, with wording like, the side with the indent goes "x". i guess at a minimum I could put the pitman nut and a washer back on and it would tell the whole 9 yards.