It is as easy as dropping the pit man, prying out the old seal, putting in the new one and putting the pit man arm back on. Can be done with the steering box left in the truck. Seal is called sector shaft seal.

 

Well, it took me a long, long time to get the nut off of the pitman arm. Probably the tightest nut I've ever removed. I had a very big pipe for leverage and it was still very difficult to remove. The smaller nut on the other end was much easier. That's as far as I got tonight so I'll try to get the arm itself off tomorrow.

Also noticed that the bolt running through the steering shaft (from steering wheel to gear box) is broken off!! If I have to remove the whole box I don't know what I'm going to do with that mess....will be near impossible to remove.

 

Just saw this post after my last reply...that is very good news. I'm really hoping I can salvage the gear box and just replace that seal. Hope to have a chance to work on it again tomorrow evening.

Any tricks to getting the pitman arm off? I'm probably going to hit the parts store for a separating fork and a puller before I try it.

Thanks to everybody...I'll keep you posted.

 

ford steering boxes are invincible. Despite what anyone says on here. Just replace the seal. Getting the pitman off is a huge pain, If you have a heavy 2 jaw puller you can get it off with that, you can also get pitman arm pullers, don't use a splitting fork the sector shaft (steering box output shaft, what the pitman arm is attached to) has splines on it and you can damage the splines on the sector shaft with a splitting fork. Put a bunch of tension on the pitman arm with the puller and smack the pitman arm with a hammer. If the puller loses tension, tension it back up and smack it smack it again. Dont be surprised if it takes several attempts or you need to hit harder or hit it with a bigger hammer, it will come.

 

Will do....thank you

 

I hear ya on the $$ part! I meant that I will probably go that route when the time comes for mine...

Sounds like the pitman arm is going to be the biggest hurdle.. Best of luck with it and I hope it just pops off for you!

Mitch

 

I was able to get the pitman arm off but it was a BEAR! I used a puller and penetrating lubricant and lots of whacks with a hammer and it still wouldn't budge. I finally got out the propane torch and heated the arm....another couple of whacks and it popped loose.

I was able to get the entire steering box out of the truck so I plan to start the rebuild tomorrow. The kit includes instructions for a total rebuild and it sounds pretty complicated. Hopefully I can get through it. BTW, the rusted "bolt" that I thought was broken off on the steering wheel shaft was actually one of the pins in the universal. I removed the plastic cover over the input shaft and found the bolt there.

 

So if left on the truck, the seal can be removed and replaced without removing the sector shaft from the steering box? I'm afraid I might damage the seal sliding it over the shaft.

 

OK, good news and bad news:
I rebuilt the steering gearbox and the leak appears to be fixed. The bad news is the steering wheel is now a bit crooked when the truck goes straight...I HAVE to get that fixed but not sure where I went wrong...seems like the parts could only go one way??

And possibly even worse news....my airbag light is now on. I think the steering wheel was turned too far while disconnected from the steering box. What would that damage? Wires unplugged or clock spring broken or ??? Looks like I'll be learning more new repairs....

 

Either you or someone else was probably turning the steering wheel while it was unhooked from the steering box. It was probably turned too far one way. Check to see if your horn works if it doesn't work 100% clock spring. The clock spring is not even a spring at all it is just a winding and when the steering wheel gets turned too much one way or another the winding breaks and you lose connection to the air bag and horn on the steering wheel.

A good practice to get into when ever you are disconnecting the steering like that is to take your seat belt, run it through the steering wheel and buckle it up to avoid breaking the clock spring because the wheel wont turn.

told you to just replace the seal lol

 

Seat belt idea sounds good...guess I'll know for the next one! I'll try the horn this evening...I'm guessing cruise control probably won't work either.

Any tips for aligning the front wheels with the steering wheel? The steering wheel shaft only fits onto the steering box input shaft one way (I think)...it's tapers in kind of a triangular shape. I don't think I can orient the input shaft any differently because of how it meshes with the sector shaft internally.....not sure what moved.

 

Come to think of it....looks like I'll be pulling the steering wheel off anyway....would it hurt to just align that when I reinstall it and leave the rest as is?

 

never had a steering box apart on one of these. Couldn't tell you if there is a master spline or if you could orientate it that way. The steering wheel only goes on one way. your best solution to aligning the steering wheel is a wheel alignment. before you send it for an alignment you should check out the front end because it probably needs work as well.

 

Nothing was changed except the seal so I would expect the steering wheel to still be where it was. I removed and reinstalled the sector shaft so that could be where the problem is. It really doesn't look like it can be installed incorrectly though....I'll post some pics. There are 3 teeth and 3 grooves for those teeth...don't think they can be adjusted / moved??

 

Pay the 70 bucks for an alignment - it probably could use one anyway.