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Power steering gear box leak

1

1987/K5/350

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Gents,

Ive got an 87 K5 with a 6 inch lift on 35s. Had a small leak in the power steering gear box on the bottom where it connects to the pitman arm. The leak turned from small to very large real quick. My plan is to get a gear box from autozone and slap it in to fix her. Only thing that has me worried is that the seal is being compromised because of the angle change due to the lift and the same thing will happen with a new part. Any advice?

 
The seal around the output shouldn’t have anything to do with the lift.
 
Ok that is great. How challenging is a reseal vs. buying a new gearbox? Looks alot cheaper.
 
The concern with resealing it is if it’s worn out it will wipe out the seal again. How much play does it have in it?
 
I haven't removed it from the truck yet, its got no play now while its on the truck. I was worried the seals weren't actually bad that is was an angle change due to the lift causing the leak. If that isn't a factor then a reseal where the pittman arm connects should be the fix I just didn't know if that was a really tough job. If so I was just planning to replace the whole unit.
 
store purchased box is hit or miss on quality these days .

old gm tech told me how to do it and it works .

remove pitman arm
clean oil/grease/dirt away
remove rubber dust boot if it has one
remove the snap ring up inside
remove washer up in side if it has one
5 gal bucket under the box
fire up and turn the wheel to the bump stop and give it a bounce off the bump stop then shut down
seal should have popped out of the box
clean up install new seal and reverse of the tear down
fill up the p/s pump to the line and cycle the wheel left/right with engine off until fluid stays at correct level
fire up and verify fluid level and no leaks
 
Great thank you guys for the help, I will be trying this method tmrw. Any advice on getting the seals back in?
 
Bent77 said:
The concern with resealing it is if it’s worn out it will wipe out the seal again. How much play does it have in it?
Click to expand...

Yep, if the pitman arm shaft bushing is worn out then the pitman arm wobbling around will wipe out the seal again. Even if you buy a reman steering box...you stand a chance of the re-builder doing a crap job on it, and sending it out with a pitman arm shaft bushing worn out on it. If you do just replace the seal on your box you should tighten down the pitman arm shaft pre-load screw only about 1/2 a turn (no more than that) from where it is now. This will help keep the pitman arm shaft from wobbling around a little, but it will not fix the problem. It is only a small band-aid.
 
I just swapped out an Oreilly reman after less than 500 miles. Leaked out the input shaft almost immediately. Lifetime warranty but I get the pain of swapping it out each time.
 
1-ton said:
Yep, if the pitman arm shaft bushing is worn out then the pitman arm wobbling around will wipe out the seal again. Even if you buy a reman steering box...you stand a chance of the re-builder doing a crap job on it, and sending it out with a pitman arm shaft bushing worn out on it. If you do just replace the seal on your box you should tighten down the pitman arm shaft pre-load screw only about 1/2 a turn (no more than that) from where it is now. This will help keep the pitman arm shaft from wobbling around a little, but it will not fix the problem. It is only a small band-aid.
Click to expand...
Ok we will see how it is tomorrow when I take it apart. It feels tight now when its still in the truck no play at all.
 
I replaced the pitman shaft seals in my '82 K2500 last year using the same method Sweet K30 described...
I had poor luck with the seals failing in other GM P/S boxes I replaced them on,so my expectations were not high I'd have better results on my old plow truck,seeing it has had a lot more lock to lock cycles than a typical daily driver,with the weight of the blade on the box straining it more..

|I got the seal kit from NAPA for about $15,and proceeded to blow out the old seals using the method above--but installing them proved to be quite difficult,as the leaf spring was about 4" away directly under the pitman shaft--so no room to swing a hammer to tap the new seals in...hmmm...:thinking:..

First I made sure the needle bearing supporting the pitman shaft had no slop,because if it did,installing new seals would be a waste of effort & money,that would ruin them quickly..

I devised a home made tool to install the new seals--a conduit fitting I had lying around had the perfect diameter to match the seals O.D.,and I put a washer on one end of it ,it fit perfect and the conduit fittings flare nut secured it nicely--then I used some 3/8" threaded rod and a nut on the washer and arranged it so it would act like a screw jack,I put a block of wood on the leaf spring,and used the threaded rod to press in the seals..

I discovered the old seals had been installed with one facing the wrong way too,I had put a socket over the pitman shaft so when they were blown out they would just go flying..though I had the truck 16 years and it never leaked before,I was surprised it didn't start gushing a lot sooner!..

The "press" worked slick to get the new seals in,and so far no leaks..

I have bough "good used" steering boxes from salvage yards and had decent luck--probably better luck than I'd have had if I tried getting a good "rebuilt" one...their quality is hit or miss no matter who rebuilds them,I have even seen new steering boxes from a dealer be crap in more than one instance..
 
diesel4me said:
I replaced the pitman shaft seals in my '82 K2500 last year using the same method Sweet K30 described...
I had poor luck with the seals failing in other GM P/S boxes I replaced them on,so my expectations were not high I'd have better results on my old plow truck,seeing it has had a lot more lock to lock cycles than a typical daily driver,with the weight of the blade on the box straining it more..

|I got the seal kit from NAPA for about $15,and proceeded to blow out the old seals using the method above--but installing them proved to be quite difficult,as the leaf spring was about 4" away directly under the pitman shaft--so no room to swing a hammer to tap the new seals in...hmmm...:thinking:..

First I made sure the needle bearing supporting the pitman shaft had no slop,because if it did,installing new seals would be a waste of effort & money,that would ruin them quickly..

I devised a home made tool to install the new seals--a conduit fitting I had lying around had the perfect diameter to match the seals O.D.,and I put a washer on one end of it ,it fit perfect and the conduit fittings flare nut secured it nicely--then I used some 3/8" threaded rod and a nut on the washer and arranged it so it would act like a screw jack,I put a block of wood on the leaf spring,and used the threaded rod to press in the seals..

I discovered the old seals had been installed with one facing the wrong way too,I had put a socket over the pitman shaft so when they were blown out they would just go flying..though I had the truck 16 years and it never leaked before,I was surprised it didn't start gushing a lot sooner!..

The "press" worked slick to get the new seals in,and so far no leaks..

I have bough "good used" steering boxes from salvage yards and had decent luck--probably better luck than I'd have had if I tried getting a good "rebuilt" one...their quality is hit or miss no matter who rebuilds them,I have even seen new steering boxes from a dealer be crap in more than one instance..
Click to expand...
Awsome idea, how should the seals be facing? fixin to try to pop em out now.
 
I don't remember now,but the seal kit came with an illustration & directions showing which way the lip on the seals need to be facing..
I just put them in the way they showed in the illustration..
Can't seem to find any illustrations on google images..
 
Perfect, got the old ones out worked just like yall said. Waiting on the new ones to come in tomorrow. We will see if I can get em back in there. Anyone know how much fluid to put in?
 
Last edited:
Can anyone tell me which direction the seals face and which seal goes in first? The instructions given are terrible and do not say.
 
almost any seal is the lip goes to oil/grease or if you can see the spring holding the lip snug the spring goes to the oil/grease
 
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