bigredbrick

Why the heck can't I get a PS gearbox to last in my truck. Was running around Sacatomatoes today looking for Camry parts to fix my sons latest damage when I noticed oil drops all over the side of my truck and a puddle when fueling up. That's 15K miles on that rebuilt box, 24K miles on the previous. Could my Borgeson shaft be causing the problem? It's always the upper end/input end that always gushes. Last time I tried to do the seal but couldn't break it loose so replaced the box and now it's leaking again. This sucks, I need the truck. Changing out the PS gearbox is a pain and usually results in a stripped or busted hose fitting because of corrosion. Whatever they use for ice melter on I-80 is very corrosive

bigredbrick

Talked to the manager at the local Napa and he'll replace it. Don't want to do this anymore, no ideas on why this keeps happening? Are all 4WD PS gearboxes the same? What about 2WD? Might have to pick up a spare at Pick-n-Pull.

93 12v

I had a pretty good leak when I bought mine 2.5 yrs ago. I put some lucas power steering fluid that has stop leak in it and zero problems since. Not even a top-off.

bigredbrick

93 12v, glad you had luck with the Lucas. Stuff like that has never worked for me.

Since I already have a seal kit from the previous leaky gear box that I couldn't get apart, I decided I'd give it a shot. The seal kit is 7-180 from Napa, seal kit - adjuster plug. In the stickies is a write up by Bushy, may he rest in peace, describing how to pull the seals. You can do it that way but I'm reluctant to drill into a seal so that you can run a screw in to enable you to pull the seal. Having now seen the parts involved it's not a bad way to do it. I did mine the way shown in the sticky from RamchargerCentral.

If your parts aren't rusted up it's a easy, fairly quick job. My Borgeson shaft didn't want to slide so I had to persuade it with PB Blaster, I call it Panther ****, and a 1/2 jack backed with the head of a single jack to loosen it up. Whoever said the Borgeson is stainless was wrong! Mine is getting really rusted and will get a healthy application of bearing grease to the joint and shaft to keep it from rusting solid.

I used an 18" pipe wrench on the lock ring with the help of a single jack to break it loose. You need to be sure the pipe wrench is only on the lock ring and not touching the gear box body. Also, that lock ring is pretty soft metal so take it easy. Use lots of panther **** or whatever you prefer. Mine broke loose but the lock ring is rusted to the adjuster plug - that's the threaded unit with 2 holes in the end. I just unscrewed the adjuster plug from the gear box body and slid it over the splined input shaft. I erroneously thought that the splined part had to be removed from the shaft, so don't drive it's pin out, you don't need to!

Remove the snap ring and pry the seals out with a screw driver. I drove the new inner seal in with a 15/16 Craftsman socket. I drove it all the way to the bottom, I don't know if I was supposed to! There's more depth in that recess than what's needed for the oil seal and dust seal. I wonder if there's room for 2 oil seals? Other write ups have mentioned grease with the seal kit but mine didn't come with any. I did put some wheel bearing grease in the recess between the 2 seals and made sure none got to the inside of the plug. Installed the snap ring and screwed it back in the gear box. Since the lock ring is stuck on the adjuster plug, I didn't need to be concerned about the adjustment, just thread it in til it stops and rap on the wrench with the single jack to make it tight and called it good.

I will finish up tomorrow since a steady drizzle started before I could finish. No room in the garage with the crew in there. If this works it's a heck of a lot easier than pulling the whole thing and breaking the fluid line fittings that are rusted up. If there is any error in what I've written please correct me, I don't want to lead anyone astray.

Here's some pics of the culprit.

bigredbrick

Finished it up this morning and all is good. Didn't take much to work the air out, topped it up a couple times. With the leak this time I parked it until I fixed it so the box didn't get wasted by running it out of fluid several times like before.

Boatnik

I bought the whole rebuild kit from Carparts.com because I noticed a fair a mount of play to the input shaft. As soon as the weather warms a little I will be diving into it. I am also wondering if the Borgenson shaft is causing too much strain on the input shaft because this is the second box on this truck since I owned it. This box was a NAPA supplied reman and right away I had to adjust the play out of it. The first one I got from them I couldn't get enough play out to keep the truck on the road. They replaced the first one free but not without suggesting I didn't know what I was doing. I even replaced the king pin bushings but it didn't change the steering. This one drives good but it leaks now after two years. The information you have shared will make it easier. Thanks

bigredbrick

I haven't had any problems with the functioning of the Napa steering boxes just with leaks. Getting a box from a rebuilder that takes the extra steps to get it right may be worth it. One post mentioned Red-Head Steering Gears or something like that, and their website goes into the steps they do in rebuilding that makes theirs better.

If you just want to replace the input seals I suggest trying the Bushy method; carefully drill a couple small holes in the oil seal, drive a sheetmetal screw in, then pry on the screw to pull the seal. If you're disassembling the box I hope the lock ring isn't frozen to the adjuster plug since you will probably need to make adjustments. I wonder if the lock ring is available thru a parts supply?

I find it hard to believe that the Borgeson shaft would be the problem. The only way it could be the culprit is if the bearings in the joint froze up putting stress on the input shaft. I've noticed a very small lateral play in my input shaft also. If the box isn't being remanufactured with proper tolerances that could be the cause of leaks. My original lasted 115k miles, seems like a rebuilt should last at least half of that. They may be counting on people turning over their vehicles more often than we do.