I just took a PS gearbox and steering setup from a '77 F150 4x4 to put in my '68 F100 4x4. Made a mistake and I think I damaged the seal above the pitman arm. Anyway, I called and can get a rebuild kit from NAPA for $16 and was thinking of just rebuilding it myself.
(1)Anyone rebuilt their own that can give me advice or a place to look for instructions?
(2)Also need to know how to change worm gear from a 2WD box to the 4wd box since the pitman arm faces different directions on the '68 vs '77 4WD.

 

The best advice i can give you is take it to someone who does this all the time.I dont believe a gear box is somthing just anyone should be messing with . Just my 2 cents

 

Can't the pitman arm be rotated 90 degrees in either direction? I was able to rotate mine 90 degrees to point the right direction.

I replaced the lower seal on mine. It was easy because the snap ring gave and the seals blew out. I bought the kit, but only replaced the seals in the bottom. Everything worked out great. I was also told that rebuilding these things is not for everyone. I don't know.

 

As far as rotation of the pitman arm....I don't know. I had just heard that on the F100 you had to swap the worm gear from a 2WD box because of the direction the drag link would be pushing in the opposite direction of what you would be doing with the steering wheel. I am using the drag link from the '68 F100. Maybe if I got the drag link from the '77 I could use it. The only reason I didn't was that I got in a hurry because the part was given to me, but my brother had a guy coming to get the rest of the truck in a few days. I beat and beat on the pickle fork and couldn't get the drag link to let loose.

What was involved witht changing the seal? That is all I really want to do.

As far as changing the worm gear....anyone have directions or knowledge of a reference? Should I go try to get the drag link off of the '77? Will it work?

 

Ah, I just saw you are working on an F100. I did the conversion on my 71 F250 4X4. Yours might be a whole different thing than mine, sorry.

The parts I used came from a 72 F250 2X (gear box, pitman arm and pump) and I used the drag link off my 71 F250 4X4. I didn't switch anything out and everything works great. I would still take that pitman arm off and check to see if you can rotate it. Mine could be rotated 90, 180 and 270 degrees.

There wasn't much to changing my seals. Like I mentioned the snap ring gave and they blew out under pressure. As far as putting the new ones back in do it right the first time because you won't get them back out. They pretty much slid in with a little help. I tapped them in with a piece of wooden dowl and a hammer.

There are some pics in my gallery if you are curious of the F250 conversion.

 

The part of the box you are working on holds no mysteries. Take off the pitman arm, remove the two bolts holding the cap on that has the adjuster in the center of it. Then just tap the pitmanshaft and cap out with a deadblow hammer. You can even do this with the box in the vehicle most of the time. You may have to watch the cap that it is coming out straight and not cocking in it's bore. Now you will have easy access to the seal stack. I think you can get just pitman seals and don't need to buy the whole kit.
I do not reccomend taking the sector apart. Even a leaking seal on the top should only be attacked if you have a spare box, or practise on an old one first. This is where the recirculating ***** are and you will screw it up if you don't know EXACTLY what you are doing.

 

On just changing the lower seals, is there any small parts I need to be careful of or is it just a shaft and canal setup? Just want to be sure nothing falls out and I don't know where it goes.

 

If any small parts fall out when you remove the piman shaft, you are in trouble. lol Really there are no loose or small parts in there, just the shaft and the seal stack. You can see the side if the sector gear of course.

 

i know this thread is a bit old but i'd like to breath a new life to it for my problem. I have a leaky power steering gearbox on my 78 ford f-150 4x4. Im in need of both the pitman arm seal and the one where the steering wheel shaft goes into. I'll give NAPA and CARQUEST a call tomorrow. But as far as procedure goes, How should I expect my seals to be removed. I have read that I can take the top cover with the adjustment screw off and tap the pitman shaft to get that out. What about the other shaft coming from the steering column.

 

I don't think you want to mess with the sedctor shaft seal. I have never gotten one apart with out all the recirculating ***** falling out. And reassembling that part takes experience that you can only get from doing it. If you do decide to do it yourself, I would suggest finding an old box to practice on first because the chances of getting it right the first time are slim to none. Any old steering box from a ford will be the same inside, basically, so you wouldn't need one from another 4x4.
The pitman shaft seal is as easy as you were told. You can usually do that without even removing the steering box.

 

I experienced the steel ***** falling out also on a "junker" box that I was trying to salvage the ring gear and rack piston from. Luckily it was not the one I needed, because the ***** also fall out of it. However, I learned from the experience that you can remove the input shaft assembly WITHOUT LOSING YOUR *****. If you remove the pitman arm sector shaft as described....remove the 4 bolts (only those 4 bolts) and slide the pitman arm sector shaft up out of the box. Then, you will be able to see the rack piston with the teeth that line up with the pitman arm sector shaft teeth. To keep the ***** from falling out, simply turn the wheel as far as it will go in the direction in which the rack piston moves all way towards the firewall side of the (if you turn it all way down towards the front of the vehicle and then remove the worm gear/rack piston assembly, the ***** are gonna fall!!!) KEEP THE WORM GEAR AND RACK PISTON FULLY INTACT AT TOGETHER ALL TIMES TO KEEP THE ***** IN. I did this on another box, and the ***** are still inside of the rack piston.

I also found that there are 2 types of boxes to try to get the rack piston out. If yours is the type with the 4 bolts holding the input shaft area to the gearbox, you have the easier one to dissamble. Let me know if you need more input.

 

okay my box has the four bolts holding the input shaft area to the box. there is about 2 inches from where the bolts are to where the seal around the shaft is. that seal is suppose to be leaking the worst.
now the top cover i believe has 2 bolts holding it on. when I take it off are there any hidden surprises behind it or is it just simply a cover that doesn't keep any thing inplace. i see an adjustment screw on it and that has me wondering what to expect on the other side of it.
The four bolts on the input shaft side is what holds the part with the badly leaking seal. Is this the same part that has those ***** in it. Really all i need to do is a reseal job on this. so do I need to be worrying about complete disassembly or just the parts with the seals.

 

Under the cap with the adjusting screw is the sector shaft, no surprises. Just pull off the pittman arm, remove the bolts holding on the cap and tap the whole thing out. Now that cap has a cylindrical shape the goes an inch or so down in the housing and may **** coming out.

 

thatnks for that part willowbilly. have you taken the side piece off with the four bolts holding it on (it has the seal that goes around the steering shaft). that is what is leaking the most on mine. I will get the reseal kit and do both but are both of these just simple to remove. And are there any other seals to seek out which may not be obvious while im changing the 2 external seals.

 

I have rebuilt several, but it has been a few years. Read charlescarters post as he describes the correct way to get the sector or input shaft out without loosing the *****. And yes there are other seals inside but they are more like teflon piston rings only with no gap. These also are tricky to replace, but if you take your time you can do it. If the unit was working ok, you may want to leave them alone. If you do decide to tackle them and there aren't ant instructions in the box, you will need to put the new rings in some hot water, nearly boiling, to soften them up enough to stretch them on. Then it almost seems like they are ruined and they are almost too big to go back in the bore. Just take your time and maybe have some extra set of hands when reassembling the piston assy. This is not an impossible task but the learning curve is great and few experienced journeymen mechanics have ever went inside these boxes. Of course fewer and fewer professional mechanics bench build anything anymore and just swap out remanufactured parts. Anyone here that does all their own work will tell you that it is worth learning how to do your own rebuilding as the quality of reman over the ciounter parts is pretty lame anymore.
The first attempt I made on rebuilding one was on my own 72 F-250 when I converted it. It took me three tries to get it right. The first time, I had a ball fall down in the box and it got mashed through the bottom. The second attempt went fine except I used parts from 2 different boxes and it pulled like crazy due to the shimming of the torque rod being off. I couldn't find those shims anywhere after I researched the problem and found what I needed. Then I got a third box and rebuilt it successfully. I have done dozens for customers since then and never had another problem.