The seal leaks at bottom end of my Power Steering box on my latest truck a 77 F150.
Question is can I pop off the pitman arm and install a new seal while its in the truck?
I have done this before on other brands of steering boxes any one done this on a Ford before?
Strange also that the leak is intermittant.

 

You can do that but the lower bushing is probably worn which is causing seal deformation, leaks, and slop in the steering. If the truck has ever been abused or in an accident the sector shaft may be bent also. A reman steering box may be your best option.

 

Eric is right, most likely worn parts are causing the seal to leak. But a new seal may last a while - worth a shot for a couple bucks. Keep in mind, you will need a pitman arm puller to remove the pitman arm.

Marty

 

Also keep in mind that while removing said pitman arm, do not bang on the output shaft of the steering box with a hammer....

If you do, they make a file with thread sizes on it that you can use to file the threads back into shape, although very slowly....

I have rebuilt my steering gear box a number of times, it's not too hard if you have a good set of snap ring pliers and needle nose pliers. Get in there, buy a rebuild kit, and go to town.
Isaac

 

Well, I replaced the seals with an aftermarket seal kit and it is as dry as it can be for now.

I hammered some pointy deck screws into the old ones to extract them and just turned them to push the seals out. It was easy.(just don't nick the shaft or housing.

And Yes it IS worn the shaft shifts side to side about 3/16 of an inch when I have someone swing the wheel back and forth.

We will see how long until it starts leaking again. When this happens I will have a bushing made that I will put in place of the upper seal to remove the play. Something hard not brass or bronze for these would just smoosh with the pounding of the road.

There is an upper pressure seal that goes in first then there is a washer then outer seal (the same as the upper) a washer then the snap ring.
For the pressure seal I may use a double lip seal that should keep the dirt out and I think that this will hold the pressure good enough. The stock one is sort of like a double lip. I will take a close look if it come down to this.

Better yet If someone decides to do what I just described I would like to hear about it.
This would still not be a permanent solution and I probably would not recommend a shop do this type of "mod".

I am running this truck on the cheap because in a few years I am going to buy a brand new one. I think steering boxes probably vary in cost between $250 rebuilt -$600 new.

I am cheap cheap! and admittedly lazy I work on trucks and all sorts of machines for a living but when I get home the last thing I want to do is rebuild a steering box.

 

I had an old mechanic tell me a shortcut to getting the old lower seals out... this was after I'd finished replacing the seals of coarse.

According to this guy, remove the clip ring that retains the 2 lower seals... with the pitman arm in place and the wheels on the ground ... start up the truck and whip the stearing wheel back and forth as quick as you can until the pressure blows both seals out of the steering box housing (along with a ton of fluid)
I tell ya... I don't know if I'd ever actually try it myself. but then if anyone out there wants to try it, let me know, cause that would be one sight to see !! ( alerting the parametics wouldn't be to bad either.

 

Thats how I might try it at work next time because there I wouldn't have to be concerned about the mess it would make.