69ttop502

I need to pull my steering box for a rebuild as the steering has a ton of play and the box is leaking grease. Are there any tricks to this as I know the Pittman arm is tourqued very tight. Can I pull the box with the Pittman still attached to the box? I will also be removing my power steering components either for good or rebuild. Any hints or tricks to make this easier. Do I need a puller for the Pittman arm.

topless68

You will need a Pittman Arm puller (rentable item from any local auto parts store). You will need to drop the Pittman arm, loosen the joint on the steering column, sometimes referred to as a rag joint, and then loosen bolts actually holding the box to the frame rail. Two? of the bolts run through the frame rail to the outbaord side and can be a booger to get to, but possible. The steering shaft can easily be disconnected w/o any mods or tinkering with the cloumn inside the car. You will want to pull the Pitman arm before you remove the box, my.02

Hope this helps.


[Modified by topless68, 8:24 AM 11/14/2001]

daily_driver

yes!!

certainly remove the gear and pitman arm together......

i have dynomax ceramicoat headers and it pulled up through the engine compartment just fine......

there doesnt seem to be enough room to get a good handle on that pitman arm nut with it in the car....

:yesnod: :yesnod:

Tom454

OTC makes a puller that has adjustable (pivoting) jaws. I have used this tool for over 25 years for doing tie rods, ball joints, and pitman arms. It takes a little "rigging" (bar stock steel) to use it for ball joints, but it works. Because it has adjustable jaws, it is very versatile and you can avoid the damage usually done by pickle forks (in particular, but not limited to the grease boots). NAPA sells the tool- I saw it on their board in the store a few days ago. If you plan on buying a puller, get this one. There are two versions- passenger cars/light trucks, and trucks. The smaller one (which I use) fits better in tight spaces (ball joints). Pounding on (side loading) the gear box shaft is not a good idea... better to use a puller.

norvalwilhelm

I just finished rebuilding my steering box last week. I bought all new bearings and seals and carefully assembled it and replaced it in the car. Be sure to punch mark the pitman arm and the splined shaft comming out of the steering box. The pitman arm can be reinstalled in a number of different positions. Anyway after reinstalling the pitman arm I grabbed ahold of it and it had alot of side play. I removed the box again and tore it apart and found the 3 bushing inside had alot of play, about .006-.008. I got new bronze bushings and 2 of them can be alot longer then stock, pressed them in, honed then once installed for a .001 fit and reassembled the box and installed. Now if you grab the pitman arm there is no play. Also the adjustment screw on the top of the box has a washer to shim the freeplay and it should be only .001-.002. I had around .005-.006 stock.
This sounds like alot but if you just throw a kit into it the shaft side play is still there. I bought bronze bushings and pressed them in after machining the inside diameter. The dealer should sell the stock original bushing also.
Good luck and if I can help futher don't hesitate to e-mail

69ttop502

Thanks everyone for the info, it doesn't sound too bad. Norval I had not really codidered rebuilding it myself but it sound like it can be done. Will a rebuild alone tighten it up or is it possible the gears are so worn that a new box is warranted. Just curious about this because I never hear of anyone replacing the box, just rebuilding it. Thanks again.

norvalwilhelm

It was simple to rebuild the box with new bearings, races, seals and *****. Use grease to hold the ***** in place but like I said before after carefully installing everything and replacing in the car I could still wiggle the pitman arm so everything came back out and I replace the 3 bushings that had about .006-.008 clearance. This really tightened the box up. These bushings should be available from the dealer. I just used bronze bushings 1.250 OD and turned the inside to 1.120, installed then honed to a .001 fit. I was lucky to have a 6 inch adjustable 1 1/8th hone so I could hone everything at once. The stock bushings hopefully are alot tighter then your warren ones.
Good luck

Jim Shea

I found the pitman shaft bushings! They are two to a package and available from GM dealers. Part number 266316. List price $10.99. Available through GMPartsDirect for $6.59 plus shipping.

BTW that GM part number is so old that it is only six digits long. I worked for GM/Delphi for 35 years and I don't ever remember a six digit number.

Also, I see that Zip Products has these bushings plus other steering gear rebuild components in their catalogue.

Tom454

69ttop502-

It is possible to go through all of the rebuild steps as described above, and still have problems with your steering gear/box. This typically happens when someone with good intentions trys to adjust the box without following the proper procedure. It can also happen simply due to age/use, but more likely to be improper adjustment technique. The internal gears get chewed up. There used to be a company (or two) that specialized in "blueprinting" these boxes. They would check the gears for wear as well as do the rest of the job as described above. Vette mag had an article on this, and I suspect all of the other major Vette mags did as well at some time.

No reason you can't do the whole job yourself as long as you can still purchase the parts. But, the gear wear can come back to haunt you if you do not address it up front.