Pitman shaft seal replace in situ?

[daantjie]

Hi guys

Been bugged by a steering box leak for a while now...Looks like it's coming from the pitman shaft seal.  How much of a knuckle buster would it be to pull the shaft off with the box in situ?  I have a nice heavy duty puller, and I know you have to heat the crap out of it to get it to come off even with a puller

I know I am probably just being lazy and need to pull the box off the car, but...I did a lot of work on the coupler and other front suspension work quite recently so I am kicking myself now that I did not just pull the bloody thing when I had it all apart ARGH!

Anybody try this with the box in place or am I asking for heart burn on this?

If I'm pulling the box then I ill likely send it for refurb anyway, not going to bugger around with it then.  C&M seems to be the go to guys for this?

Cheers

[rumb]

If you have a good puller the pitman arm will come off. Don't know about seal replacement. I sent my unit to c& m they are great.

[UTn_boy]

Well, there is an inner and an outer seal.  The outer one is easy enough to get out, but not so much the inner one (in situ)......but I suppose it's possible.  Though, you'll likely spend less time removing the gear box compared to trying to do this in situ.  Here's the thing though....if this one seal is leaking I imagine the others will start leaking right afterward.  Do it all at one time and be done with it for another 20 years.

And you guys got me thinking.....if I had to have someone go through my gear box I'd have no idea who to send it to.  I've always done my own gear boxes and other people's gear boxes.  It's nice to know there are reputable places out there for this purpose.  So many places are scams......they clean it, repaint it, and then it's magically rebuilt.  No new seals or anything.  To add the icing to the cake they have a hefty price of $500-$800 attached to it, too!

[daantjie]

Thanks guys I know I should not half-ass this jobby   good thing you guys are confirming what I kind of knew already
I've only heard good things about C&M on multiple forums.

[daantjie]

OK time for show and tell   I thought I would give the unit a good clean and let it sit overnight to really see what was cooking with this leak.  At least I  know for sure where 1 of them is coming from.  If you look at pic, whereas before I thought the leak was from the main seal on the Pitman shaft, appears it is actually from the cover housing the bearing.  It has a couple of o-rings in it, so for sure at least one of them is toast.

I checked with C&M and they want $450 for the refurb.  Not bad, but it will be double that for me with shipping from Canada.  Not so good.  It does not bug me enough to be out of pocket to the tune of 1K

[TJ 450]

I would leave it until a full rebuild/ reseal is viable. Mine leaks worse than this, I just get under the car and clean it periodically. 😎

Tim

[daantjie]

I would leave it until a full rebuild/ reseal is viable. Mine leaks worse than this, I just get under the car and clean it periodically. 😎

Tim

Indeed I'm inclined to just do this too