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[johnnyboy]

Hi Guys.


Power steering is working, but leaking around the input shaft.


Lighthouse recommended trying to just replace the input shaft seal, so I bought a kit and had a go.


Having taken the box off and stripped the area around the input shaft it was obvious water has got in and rusted the shaft a bit, and yes, the seal had gone.
So I removed the old seal (with a pointy screwdriver...) and cleaned up the shaft a bit with fine emery.
I put some wd40 on everything and pressed the new seal down the shaft..... and it "popped"


Having got another new seal from Lighthouse, I am now looking at the shaft and thinking that it seems very "grippy" and that if I try and push another seal on it will probably pop again....

I do not feel confident in taking the whole box apart (backlash etc.) so all suggestions welcome!

John

[Dave The Sparky]

Funny feeling i removed the big metal plug to change the seals when i did this but i could be wrong, it may depend on what i received in the kit as i seem to remember there are 2 seals on that input shaft, but do you also get an o ring and a bearing in the kit as well?.

Personally i would use grease or ATF rather than wd40 for install and make sure its the correct seal too as that box has been around for a long, long time on various vehicles so unless you are certain it came with the CJ and hasn't been altered then it could simply just be the wrong seal kit?.

If you are feeling brave then its not that big or horrible a job to remove that plug especially if the box is off, makes access easier for emery cloth too.
So long as you make sure to scribe/paint a line as to where it was all tightened up to before you undo the locknut and plug and that way it all goes back to where it started from when reassembling.
Oh and dont get tempted to turn the input shaft with that plug off as it can unscrew out and thats when all the ball bearings fall out and in to the steering gear and thats not a good thing believe me!.

[Jonny Jeep]

If you do decide to remove the input shaft to clean it up better, on Saginaw boxes, to set the preload when reinstalling the end plug you wind it in till it stops. Mark the position on the box and plug, then unscrew half an inch, before tightening the lock ring.

Don't turn the shaft as noted above. I've stripped my box before and I find it easy enough, but I have an arbour I made somewhere which helps reassembly of the worm drive (with the aforementioned bearings in) and I also have a beam type inch-lb torque wrench for setting the over center torque on the pitman shaft.