Needed to replace my power steering pump and rebuild the box since both were leaking. I purchased an AGR performance pump since from the get go, my pump always squealed when offroad. Since one must pull the plastic pulley off the pump, a special tool is needed. The FSM shows a 2 leg puller type tool but I wanted to use a clam shell variety and picked one up. A clam shell is able to apply more gripping force around a larger area of the pulley retainer.

I put a bead of RTV around the outer edge of the pulley hub to make a dam for PB blaster so the shaft could soak all night. I installed the puller today and cranked it down good and snug and gave the puller bolt a good smack with a hammer to help shock the pulley loose. It seemed to work and I started cranking the bolt, then snap. To tool cam off cracking the center of the pulley. Here the lip that the puller must grab in order to pull the pulley off, sheered. Sucks, now I have to buy a pulley.

On to the steering box. Got all the hoses off and steering disconnected. Went to take the nut off the pitman and I didn't have a socket big enough. It takes a 1 5/16" or a 33mm socket. Off on a hunt for that. I was able to come up with a 32mm and settled on that. Got the nut off and went to put the pitman arm puller on and it wouldn't fit. The space between the legs was too narrow so I had to grind it wider. I used the impact, hammer (two at one time) and the pitman wouldn't budge. Decided to get the torch out and some moderate heating let it pop off.

Now to remove the 3 box bolts. Often, to break a bolt free, I crank it tight a bit before trying to loosen it. I was using a breaker bar as I knew the bolts would be tight. It was and one good pull and the bolt snapped. Ok. Went down to the second front bolt. Tight, but it didn't snap and off it came. The last bolt, snap. I'll be replacing those grade 8 with grade 5s.

Once I dropped the box down, I found out why the bolts snapped. There is an aluminum spacer between the frame rail and steering box. The spacer was galled to the bolts. The only reason the one bolt came out was because the aluminum had oxidized so badly that the spacer literally fell apart. I had to use the torch to heat up the aluminum in order to get them off. Once off, the bolt studs came out of the steering box easily. I'll be using steel spacers when I reinstall the box. The aluminum measured 3/4" inch and I found some scrap 3/4" steel pieces in the scrap bin. I'll be making them up tomorrow.

I won't be able to get the pulley for the pump till next week, but tomorrow I'll be disassembling the steering box and rebuilding it. Hope I don't find any surprises there and have it soaking in the parts washer over night.

I didn't make a lot of headway in the gear dis-assembly. It took me a half hour just to get the retaining ring off the housing end plug. It was and rusted in so bad that I used vice grips and twisted and pealed it out of place. Looks like a cork screw now. Then getting the end plug out, I had to heat the gear casing around the end plug, then used WD40 to cool the aluminum plug while working the stub shaft so that it would push the plug out. That took multiple tries as well. Once I got to the thrust assembly, it was supposed to slide over the stub shaft and there's little of any why of grasping the thrust assembly. I used two seal picks and wedged them on either side of the thrust assembly and finally got it out. Ended up breaking one of the picks in the process and all 24 of the rack piston balls came out with the assembly. I had fun chasing them down.

I was amazed at how much PS fluid is retained in the gear box after one figures that all the oil has been emptied. I had oil all over the bench, me and the floor. I now have all the major components removed. Tonight I hope to get all the new seals and O rings in place and maybe even some of it back together.

Wow, man... She's fighting you every step of the way!

Give 'er heck, man!

Just to get an idea of what I was working on last night. There are 24 ball bearings that go into the worm gear shaft. 12 ball bearings are 1/2 thousand larger than the other 12 ball bearings. They have to be inserted into the rack block alternately with the worm gear shaft in place. Once all 24 bearings are in place, the worm gear has to be removed at the same time a temporary tool is inserted in place of the worm gear shaft. Then the rack block goes into one end of the housing while the worm gear shaft is inserted into the other end of the housing back into the rack block while the temporary tool is removed. All without loosing a bearing.

Check this link http://www.stangerssite.com/HowItWorksSteeringBox.html It pretty much gives the idea of what I was doing.

I got all the O rings and seals installed and tonight I'll work on setting pre loads.

Dang, man...

Brutal! To me, the power steering box is like the electrical system; except instead of magic smoke, there's majic fluid. When the magic fluid starts leaking out, time to get another magician.

I've got both the pump and gear box done, now I'll just have to get them installed. Won't be able to start that till tomorrow night as I've got a club meeting tonight. I need a break anyway.

I will NEVER, NEVER piss around rebuilding a gear box again. In my opinion it just isn't worth the time I spent on it, the special tools and aggravation I went through. I've got patience in a lot of things, but this project wasn't one of them. Guess that's why I've never messed with transmissions.

I've got to thank my son-in-law as he helped me to keep going on this project. I can spend hours tracking down a piece of bad computer code or hunt for an elusive bad wire in a vehicle and enjoy doing it. Must be something about being able to have 3 sets of hands versus 2 sets of hands when working a project.

x2 for me... Except it also applies to transmissions, electrical stuff, inner axle workings and the Matrix. I may mess around with those things someday, but I'm not looking forward to it.

Kinda funny my steering box broke the same two bolts. I fixed that a couple years ago. My dash is coming out this weekend to fix the heater core. Then new brake lines from the front to the back and my Dana 44 install.. Lots of work before the may 2-4 weekend!!

I don't envy you taking the dash apart. I took one apart to replace the evaporator and it took a big part of the day to do it.

Keep us posted.

Just as my luck would have it, my rebuild didn't work. Apparently one of the internal teflon seals came loose when I assembled it and blew through the hydraulic line. Screw it, I'm ordering a new box today.

That sucks! All that work, and then pop!

I don't blame you, I'd have either snagged a used box, or gotten a new one (budget permitting.)

Keep us in the loop on the install though. How did your re-install go (with the spacers)? When I yanked the steering box in my brother's Jeep, the same thing happened, except I was able to get the bolts out without breaking them. (Thank the Lord!) The spacer was busted up, but I just re-aligned the bits as best I could, and re-installed it.

The spacers I made up worked great. I used some contact cement to keep them in place while I mounted the box. They stuck so well that when I had to take it off I had to heat them up a bit so they'd detach. I wanted them to stay and they did.

I'm in luck, my favorite parts guy was able to get a box from the warehouse this afternoon, so I won't have to wait. Such is luck but I have to drive up to Cleveland to pick up some other parts from a guy. That'll blow a good part of the evening so steering installation will have to wait till tomorrow night.

Guess what????? I need to do all of this again.................

Coming back from the Lost Valley run this last weekend, the PS just quit working. Don't know if it's the pump or box but I'm going to warranty both of them. This just plain sucks. The job will have to wait a couple of weeks as I'm leaving for 2 weeks at the Lake on Saturday.

That honks big time!

Does it still have fluid in the reservoir? Any whining or other odd noises?

For all intents and purposes it sounds normal. I have suspect that it's the steering box. I was contemplating returning it originally because it pulled more to the right. It wasn't bad and at that time I didn't want to have to make a fourth round on the steering, so called it good enough. But, I'm not taking any chances, doing both so I only have to muck with stuff one time.

Odd... It really sucks you're having so many issues after so much work. Hopefully they won't give you any hassle with the warranty.