Turbo-Jet

Hey, I'm going to rebuild my leaky power steering system over the holidays. I am going to order a kit from Zip with the seals to refurb the control valve. Is this kit complete to do the job?



What about their ball-stud kit? Is this something at would need attention too? My car has only 60k miles.




[Modified by Turbo-Jet, 10:54 PM 11/24/2003]

Sleper

I would order the first kit. Not hard to rebuild. If you do need more parts they are available from GM. Good luck

Edzred72

Your milage is low (as mine was at rebuild) so I don't think you'll need the ball stud. After it's apart, inspect the ball. Chances are that it's good to go.
Eddie

Tom454

Don't "Bubba" the steering gear by using a pickle fork to remove the stud from the pitman arm. Use a puller.

The hammer/pickle fork imparts a blow to the stud.... to the pitman arm... to the shaft... to the bearings... and to the internal steering box gears. Very bad Karma.

Stewart's74

The instructions that come with the 1st kit pictured really leave a lot to be desired. Mine looked like they were a photocopy of a really horrible original. My tank sticker was more legible. Having said that, I think I ended uo putting some things together incorrectly and f-ed it up. I ended up buying a new unit.
When you disassemble, make sure you pay close attention to how the parts come apart.

**Ya gotta love the old Canucks logo :thumbs:


[Modified by Stewart's74, 1:29 PM 11/25/2003]

FeedVaal

The Haynes manual has the rebuild procedure. I consider it a must have reference. :thumbs:

V8yunkie

I have rebuilt the power valve 3 times - twice with the upper, once with the bottom kit. No big deal actually. Only problem is, that the thing is only sealed for a year maximum after installing new seals. So I got tired of that and finally installed a NEW (not rebuild) unit - which, besides from not leaking, improved for precised steering quite a bit. Which makes sense because the better the internal sealing is, the faster the valve reacts to any movement on the pivot bolt (that connects to the pitman arm of the steering gear).

Therefore my recommendation ist to opt for a new unit - one less thing to think about for another couple of years.

Regards,
Thomas


[Modified by V8yunkie, 6:58 AM 11/26/2003]

Twin_Turbo

I have rebuild a couple and they all leaked again after a while. The piston bore tendss to wear out of round causing the leaks

redwingvette

I repalced mine with a new one. About $125 but if/when it starts to leak again I just have to hand it back to them and they give me a new one.

Turbo-Jet

Thanks for the help.

I haven't disassembled the valve yet, but I am wondering what out-of-roundness can be tolerated?

Tom, can you suggest a max limit? Can the bore be honed if not too bad?


[Modified by Turbo-Jet, 12:58 AM 11/27/2003]

V8yunkie

@Turbo-Jet

Sorry, but I do not know wether out of round is the actual problem (if so, I would not know the limit). Actually I could not imagine out of round to occur as there is no radial forces like on a crankshaft. The piston of the valve moves in an axial direction. So wear would occur evenly.

On thing I have suspected when I rebuilt the last time was that the big (upper kit shown) O-ring that seals the hydraulic section to the part with the ball-bolt was rather flat in its groove, i.e. it did not protude a lot. Thus the sealing that happens by compression of that ring when connecting the two sections cannot be to well. Therefore fluid from the hydraulic section would escape here.

I once thought that a bit of grinding down (mill needed... but do not ask ho to fix the valve in a mill) of the surface (to let the ring protude more) might help.

But this is just an unproven assumption.

Considering the comparatively low price of a new unit (and the messy work to exchange the thing), I decided not to mess around with it any longer.

Regards to beautifull Victoria
(from foggy, rainy Germany),
Thomas


[Modified by V8yunkie, 3:09 PM 11/27/2003]

itsforfun

Everything in my 1966 was shot! The ball and the cups were rust pitted.
It's a very simple rebuild.
Good Luck

Tom454

I do not know of any source for replacement internal parts for the adapter/control valve other than the ball-stud & seals.

I also do not have any "scientific" figures for wear that provide a "go/no-go" reference.

The parts wear out to the point that no repair kit will correct the leaking problems for a reasonable amount of time. They get EXTREMELY sloppy. "Honing" is not a relevant repair step in this task. It is not necessary, and will increase tolerances. There are no over-size parts available, which would become necessary after honing. Honing & sleeving? Maybe... but nobody is set up for the sleeving step as far as I know.

As posted, you have to try a kit to see if it wortks. If not, buy NEW, not rebuilt.
The rebuilt unit you receive is more likely to be a "non-repairable" unit than a serviceable one. Most of them leak right out of the box. A unit can come in, get cleaned, get new seals etc, get tested, and get shipped back out without any type of "longevity" validation.
Just because it doesn't leak on the bench does not mean it won't leak after you've driven 10 miles on it.

The rebuild task is easy. So IMOP it is worth a shot before you buy a new one.




[Modified by Tom454, 3:27 PM 12/1/2003]