Ford Power Steering Gear Rebuild - Part I

The last major part of the chassis was the steering box. According to the Ford book, you either had a "Ford" box or a "Saginaw" box. Ours was the Ford. So that's the first thing you'll need to do is verify what you have.

If it's a Ford box and you want to rebuilt it and it's a high mileage unit then you'll need a new Pitman or as Ford calls it Sector Shaft bushing. It's an actual bushing and it wears.... I think the Saginaw box uses a needle bearing and doesn't have this problem. But this 1966 of ours had ~96K miles on it and the Pitman shaft would wobble in the box, hence why the seals didn't have a chance.

If your bushing is worn, don't even waste your time just putting in seals, either go for a reconditioned box or hunt down, like I did, a new bushing and then a seal kit.

Here's the pics on how I did it, your mileage may vary.

Here's the bushing you'll need and the Ford part number.

A typical seal kit.

You'll need a clean area to assemble. I've already cleaned out the case, input shaft assembly and all the other bits.

You will need a similar tool for the retaining and lock ring. I made this from a 6 inch nipple black pipe at the hardware store and a cheap socket I bought at Autozone. I turned down the pipe in the lathe and milled the engagement teeth onto one end. Then inside bored the other end to accept the socket. Then welded the socket in place. The reason why I went to this length is that the retaining rings and lock ring have to be torqued down to a required tightness. It was just a way for me to attach a torque wrench.

On the control valve body end, carefully press in the input shaft bearing. Note there is no stop lip on this so it only gets inserted to where it's just level with it's bore ridge or sits just slightly proud of that ridge. Do not go all the way down

Use Petroleum Jelly to lube everything and use a standard seal/bearing installer drift tool.

The main input shaft seal goes in next. Again this gets installed to the height of the snap ring groove or slightly proud of it.

Install the snap ring.

Install the dust seal.

Install the spool valve on next, take note here, the one land that has a 'V' cut in has to go towards the input shaft spline end.

Install the snap ring.

Next install the selective washer. This is the crucial bit on why the spool valve must be installed correctly and why the lock ring has to be torqued down properly and not "guessimated". This sets the distance the spool valve sits in the control housing. If something goes amiss here, you will end up with unequal power assist. Or simply put it'll be easier to turn the steering wheel in one direction and harder in the other.

Control valve housing supported.

Install the input shaft assemble into control valve housing.

The retaining ring goes on first.

That gets torqued down to one value.

Then the lock ring gets installed on top and torque down to another value.

Completed control valve assembly.

Piston seals get installed next. The black O ring goes in first, then the blue square cut Teflon ring.

Continued in part II