My steering gear head is leaking right where the shaft comes out to connect to the steering arm (?). I can buy a whole new steering gear box or I can get a new seal kit. Is the seal kit worth it? its $28.00 for the kit and $175 for a new gear head, but i want it fixed so it wont give me problems again. can i save myself a few dollars with the seal kit or is my gear head just shot???

chad

 

It's called the adjuster plug. It is usually the o-ring on the plug that leaks. If it is leaking at the shaft there is good chance the shaft is scored and won't hold a seal long.

I've rebuilt many of those boxes over the years. There not very hard but you have to know what your doing. It's easy to make them worse.

[edit]Ooops. you said it's leaking where the pitman arm attaches to the sector shaft[/edit]

That's not so bad. Not really any adjustments to mess up. Sometimes the seals are a little hard to remove. You'll need a good tool (snap on) to remove the pitman arm. Same statement goes about scoring. If the sector is scored it hold a seal long.

 

the leak comes from the pitman arm i believe. the leak increases when i turn full right or left. so much that if i make a couple of 360's and can follow the drips on the road. do you think the shaft is scored from that description?

 

It sounds like your sector shaft bearing is worn out. Crawl underneath the truck and have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth. Watch for side to side movement of the sector shaft.

Mine leaks too. I found that if I straighten the wheels and wiggle the steering wheel a bit before I shut the truck down, it doesn't leak. Time for a new steering box, I guess.