Seal kits are available when fluid leaks are the only problem. When you replace the entire steering gear box, it's a simple bolt-on procedure. Professionally-rebuilt units come already adjusted, and with all new seals and gaskets installed.
One thing to be aware of, especially for the benefit of others researching this topic, is when you encounter a leaking pitman shaft seal, those seals rarely fail on their own. It's much more common to have them leak due to the bushing supporting the pitman shaft being pounded away over time. That lets the shaft walk sideways enough to create a gap between it and the seal. This is more common on newer vehicles where the manufacturer has replaced the roller bearing assembly with a less-expensive bushing.
It is also rather uncommon for the input shaft seal to leak on its own. Also called the "steering shaft", if fluid is leaking from that seal, it is usually caused by excessive rust and pitting on that stub shaft. A new seal won't solve that. Due to the really low cost today for a rebuilt gear box, it doesn't make sense in terms of time or money to try to repair it yourself.
Here's the instructions from the service manual. One thing I was very disappointed to not see was a warning about the steering wheel. When the car has an air bag in the steering wheel, it must have a solid wired connection to insure reliability. That is done with a "clock spring". That's a wound-up ribbon cable in a plastic housing that sits right underneath the steering wheel. That cable is just long enough to wind up fully when steering fully in one direction, and it can unwind fully when steering fully in the other direction, and little more. Care must be taken to insure it is still in sync with the new steering gear. That is real easy to do as long as proper procedures are followed.
The standard procedure is to turn the new steering gear to its centered position and install it that way. Next, the steering wheel must also be centered prior to unbolting the steering shaft from the old steering gear. At that point I either use the ignition switch lock to hold the steering wheel centered, or I run a rubber strap through it to prevent it from turning.
Without having the steering shaft connected to the steering gear box, the steering wheel is free to rotate endlessly in either direction. Doing so will destroy the clock spring. Also, if the gear box is not centered when the steering shaft is attached to it, the clock spring will be off-center by one or more revolutions. One of two things will occur. One possibility is when you turn fully in one direction, the ribbon cable will wind up tight, then get tugged off one end. The Air Bag Computer will detect that, set a diagnostic fault code for "Open Squib" or "Open Initiator Circuit", and it will turn on the warning light.
The second possibility is the cable will unwind too far, then fold over on itself. That will also break the cable, but only after this happens repeatedly, so you might not see the warning light for weeks or months after the service.
This is the only condition the leaves the air bag assembly susceptible to static discharge and accidental deployment, which can occur simply from sliding across the seat when entering and exiting the vehicle. All of this can be avoided by starting the service with the steering system centered, and connecting the new gear box when it is also centered. It is acceptable and normal to have to rotate the steering shaft slightly to line up the master spline so the couple can be slid into place. That little rotation of the steering wheel is insignificant to this warning.
The easiest way to insure the new gear box is centered is to bolt it into place, then attach the pitman arm first. There's four master splines, so that shaft can be attached in four positions, but only one of those will work when the steering linkage is already connected. To say that a different way, you won't be able to install the pitman arm 90 or 180 degrees off. It will only go on the correct way. Once that is attached, you can use the wheels / tires to shove the steering system from full-left to full-right, then put it back to straight ahead. The steering wheel will still be centered from when you removed the steering shaft coupler, so now you can slide it onto the new gear box and know everything is centered.
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Thursday, May 6th, 2021 AT 5:08 PM
