Just taped gearbox and now cap is leaking

[eripley]

The cap on the front of my saginaw uis leaking like a siv. im trying to bleed the system and flooding my driveway with power steering fluid.

Let me eplain what i did so you guys can help me diagnose.

We had an extra endcap. so my friend with a tig welder welded on a piece of aluminum to the end of the cap. drilled and tapped that cap.

We removed the endcap
of my new gearbox and used the other endcap that was already ready.

The leak is around where the snap ring seats.

is this because i used another cap not the one originally on the box? my friend that helped tap told me after we assembled the box that he has done 3 of these and they all leak there. wish he had told me before we did it.

Any suggestions?

thanks in advance.

 

[Leper]

Check the oring. How well did you clean the mating surface? Those caps can be a b!tch to get back in place without damaging the usually brittle oring.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Remove the endcap and inspect the O-ring carefully. If the O-ring appears to be good and not cut anywhere then add a little grease to it and set it into the steering box then place the endcap back into position and give it a small tap and reinstall the retainer clip. If you try to install the endcap with the O-ring around the edge it is very difficult to get the O-ring AND cap back in without cutting or damaging the O-ring.

 

[eripley]

thanks guys. i tried all your solutions last night. 3 attempts to get the cap on and its still leaking. I even rtved the outside lip on the box before seating the cap and it still leaks.
The oring is indeed where it is supposed to be and not damaged. my only assumption is maybe that the original cap will seal better. so we are going to drill and tap the original cap and put it on to see what happens. will let you know. thanks.

BTW. my box was new so the oring was still really soft and plyable.

FYI it leaks when turning left so i assume thats when pressure is applied to the endcap. Also with the clip in the end of the box feels smushy. Meaning you can push on the endcap and it moves. its pretty obvious at this point the oring is not sealing against the cap.

 

[4X4HIGH]

FWIW i can still push inward on my end cap and it doesn't leak.

 

[eripley]

k we can close this thread. dont have a good answer for you. Took my original cap that was on my stock box over to friends house. he tapped it. i installed fitting. put it back on my box and no leaks. it also doenst push in at all on the endcap once the snap ring is installed. the snap ring was actually tighter this time to install. so maybe there is a cap thickness difference?! oh well fixed now. thanks for the help!

 

[gmc4cw]

I can almost gaurantee that when you welded to the cap it distorted it. aluminum is sensitive to heat changes. you could have saved a lot of time and Ag if you bought a cap from JKWoffroad. I got mine from him $45 and I had it 2 days after I ordered it. now I have the stock endcap for a spare if the hydro craps out and I want to go back to stock.

http://jkwoffroad.com/offroadproducts.php#31

scroll down.

 

[eripley]

why pay $45 for a cap? I can buy a whole 2x4 gearbox for that? I just used the stock cap and tapped it. There are 4-5 threads in it at least and its a quarter inch thick. I did waste the time having the welding on a piece of aluminum to the first cap. I admit that. And I agree (thanks for the info) that it may have distorted it.
But $45 for a cap no way.
My hoses and all the extra fittings didnt even cost that much combined!

 

[gmc4cw]

why pay $45 for a cap? I can buy a whole 2x4 gearbox for that?
My hoses and all the extra fittings didnt even cost that much combined!

who made your hoses because I have $120 tied up in hoses and fittings. and $145 in a new to me rebuilt 2wd box.


I bought the cap since I had read threads were people had problems with tapping their stock end cap. looking back now I tapped the top cap and its the same thickness as the end cap. I could have saved the $45 like you but I didn't know at the time how thick the stock caps were.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Hoses can be had for $15.00 each that are 48" long with 3/8" male NPT fittings on both ends.