Steering gear leaking at pitman arm

Lovely Bunny · Sep 26, 2019

Hi all, this is the first engine I've ever wrenched on myself so apologies if my questions are obvious and thanks for any help or tips.

My steering gear is leaking at the spline where the pitman arm connects. It leaks when the steering wheel is turned all the way to the right or left. Do I need to remove the whole gear box to replace the seal here?

There's also a small leak at the power steering pump where the pressure hose connects. The hose looks pretty old so I'm going to go ahead and replace that too. Is there anything else I should be looking at replacing or addressing while I'm working on this stuff?

Van info in signature. Thanks!!!

IDIBRONCO · Sep 26, 2019

It doesn't hurt to reseal these, but I had a guy tell me different. He had his own mechanic's shop for 15 years and he said that he quit trying to reseal them. He said that it seemed like at least half of the would still leak after installing a new seal. I have no way to know how accurate that was, but I though I'd pass it along. If your high pressure line is in need of replacement, you should also look at your return line. It may need to be replaced as well.

Lovely Bunny · Sep 26, 2019

Thanks for this! Actually towards the end of the day today I began to suspect that it's also leaking at the top, where the steering column stuff inserts. I'm not positive at this point but I found a lot of wetness there. I'll do a better check tomorrow. I suppose if it's leaking at both ends it's time to just replace the whole gear box.

And yes, I'll definitely replace the return line. I'm starting to think that the best policy on this thirty-one year old engine is just to replace whatever lines I have access to whenever I take something out.

IDIBRONCO · Sep 27, 2019

Lovely Bunny said:
I'm starting to think that the best policy on this thirty-one year old engine is just to replace whatever lines I have access to whenever I take something out.

That's usually a pretty good method of thinking.

mblaney · Sep 27, 2019

You can replace the lower seal on the steering box; pull the pitman arm, extract the seal and install a new one. I have done this successfully many times but you really have to pay attention to the shaft surface. They get worn and pitted, the new seal won't work worth a damn if the shaft is not cleaned up. Us some fine wet/dry paper and polish it up. Also be careful of play in the shaft - any side-to-side play will cause it to leak; you can check this by observing the shaft while your wife turns from side to side. Make sure she leaves the truck in park

If you intend on keeping the vehicle for a long time then I would recommend a quality rebuild instead. Otherwise, pulling the pitman and replacing the seal is a great way of building character :bail

Lovely Bunny · Sep 29, 2019

mblaney said:
Otherwise, pulling the pitman and replacing the seal is a great way of building character

Haha thanks for this. I'm going ahead with a whole new steering gear. I'm enough of a character already.

lotzagoodstuff · Sep 29, 2019

If you end up changing the entire steering box, you should take a look at the rubber dampener (commonly called a "rag joint") in the steering shaft. There are also a bunch of folks who've replaced the whole steering shaft with a Borgeson product that takes all the "slop" out of the steering.

I don't know if all/any of the hardware is the same on a van as it is on a F250/F350, but if you are going to change out the whole steering box you'll be in an easy spot to change the rag joint.

Good luck.

Lovely Bunny · Sep 29, 2019

Cool, thanks, I will look into this.

Alwaysreadyrob · Sep 30, 2019

Has anyone used one of those Redhead steering boxes I see on ebay ? Just wondering about to quality with $ 60.00 shipping and all.

79jasper · Sep 30, 2019

Search here for redhead.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

batchman · Sep 30, 2019

I wish I had tried changing just the lower seal. There is a lot of variability in rebuilt steering gear. The box that came out drove beautifully, but it leaked. The replacement does not drive nearly as nicely.

Good luck,
- Jeff

cheap bronco · Oct 1, 2019

I have a redhead steering box on my 02 f250. Best money spent Steering is **** on ****

dgr · Oct 2, 2019

cheap bronco said:
I have a redhead steering box on my 02 f250. Best money spent Steering is **** on ****

Sounds slippery

Steering gear leaking at pitman arm

Lovely Bunny

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2002 7.3 POWERSTROKE 4x4

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