the leak appeared to be coming from the output shaft side, the other side was completely dry. The other steering box threads have lost all the photos so I'm trying to get my head around what's what. Are the seals under dust caps or are the dust caps something else? In this pic of input shaft , although it doesn't seem to be leaking the rubber is cracked. Replace or not? Is the cracked bit the seal or a dust cap? Output shaft where leak seemed to be from, is the black bit the seal or a dust cap?
Thought I'd try to do my steering box this weekend, so been out to find a garage to pull the arm off the shaft. Visited 3 establishments only to be met with blank stares and grumblings of "ooh we don't av nuffin that would get that off" I didn't realise I was presenting an unusual part from a sodding UFO requiring uninvented technology to operate on it. So can anyone recommend me a puller or whatever I can buy that will do the job? Along with heat I presume...
You'll need a hydraulic puller...which I've got. I'm down Winchester way late this afternoon. Let me know if you want a borrow, and I'll drop it off in sunny Soton.
Thanks to super @snotty who has hand delivered his hydraulic puller to me, ! And it worked, drop arm is off, wasn't to bad actually and sorry to disappoint Rich but there's no injuries or breakages
I'm not! The conservatory, wombat & Mac are still in one piece. Thanks so much @snotty, great to see you again.
Pics in the how to thread have gone west so I'll write what I'm doing , maybe some one will find it helpful. You'll need the seal kit, snotty loaned me a 10ton hydraulic puller to get the drop arm off which it did with ease. Make sure therss a mark on the arm so you can put it back on on the same position, I also marked this bit too free image upload Remove the bolt fully or you won't get it off.
I wound the input shaft fully anti clockwise then took a photo so I knew where the pointer on the dust cap should be on reassembly Then you can prise off the dust cap, and remove the bolts and take off the cover
Once in there you can take off the shim and the big washer and clean it all up. Remove the old seal from the cover plate. And insert new one, with some grease as per the how to thread and reassemble
Top tip: get it all back together, wind the box from lock to lock, divide by two, then set the pointer on the dust cap so it's lined up with the square on the casting (yours may be wrong at the mo). Then you can feel under the van later to see when the steering's centralised.
Grr realised I didn't grease the inner face of the seal that rubs on the shaft, is that bad? Should i remove it and grease it?
Of course things were going far too well One of the studs on the round cover has sheared off upload images What are my options for sorting this? FFS
I feel like I should know the difference...... Haven't taken the others out yet so not sure on size, thought I'd stop now before I break anything else....