Thread: P/S gear box question

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Typical day for a fellow working on his car.

I spent the last two weeks detailing under the hood of my 1980 Chev Malibu. Looks great! Engine, fan blades, pulleys, air cleaner painted, all new belts, vacumn/gas lines, brake booster/master cylinder, and brake lines painted (silver hammertone paint looks great), likewise on alternator. Inner wheel wells are plastic so they cleaned up nice using the Ducan plastic detail product. All ready for a picture....

So I decide to start the car up for a test, just to make sure I have no fuel, or vacumn leaks, all looks good. I decide to move the car into a spot for better light for the picture. Yikes! Power steering fluid is squirting out of the steering box. I get my face in there to see where it's coming from. There appears to be a very small whole in the casting, almost looks like it was meant to be there, perhaps as a bleed hole, or a vent hole?? It is about
1/16" . It is located on the back upper portion of the box (vertical portion), center.

Does anybody know if there is supposed to be a screw, or plug that fits in this hole, that I perhaps accidently worked loose, or knocked out while cleaning the steering box? It would have to be pretty small. I looked through my manual for any pictures of it, that might show a screw, or plug, but to no avail.

Help!

The hole I'm talking about does look like it was made to go there, just can't figure out if it's supposed to be plugged, or if it's a vent hole. If it's a vent hole. perhaps there is a seal leak internally that needs to be fixed, if not I cram a screw into it, or some JB Weld.

The tip of the pencil is resting in the hole, as seen in the picture.

Thanks for the response Denny. So I gather that you believe this hole to be a vent hole, rather than a hole that a screw or plug has popped out?

I will have to see if I can find what kind of steering box it is, before ordering the seal kit. I suspect that it is a Saginaw. Anybody able to confirm that?

My Clymer manual has nothing on P/S boxes, and is overall pretty useless, other than making me envious of what some of the H.P the earlier engines then mine turned out. I did order a service manual specific to the 1980 Chev models, from ebay, but it hasn't arrived yet.

Denny, Good call, you are 100% right! I am impressed!


I found a shop that specializes in rebuilding PS boxes. He also said that this hole was meant for a retaining ring release, and that the O ring is probably shot. As the box only has 60,000 miles on it, he said it probably would be worth doing a re-seal job on, but otherwise they don't bother with the retaining ring type steering boxes, only the GM 4-bolt style. The retaining ring type boxes have been known to leak prematurely, especially if they have been unused for any length of time, (as mine has). $150 will buy a rebuilt 4 bolt, with the proper idler arm, as the spline is different then my box. Decision time. Rebuild the old one myself or go to the better rebuilt box now...

Thanks again, Bill

I considered rebuilding the box, but after further consultation, I figured I don't want to end up with a leaking box again, in the near future, (or distant future for that matter ) I sprang for the rebuilt 4 bolt capped Saginaw. Apparently the spline on the pitman arm is different so they threw the proper one in for this box.

After screwing around getting all the right tools lined up for the job, (half SAE, half metric, what's with that anyway? ) I got the PS lines off, the bolt holding the column connector, and loosened the mounting bolts. I then undid the nut on the joint that holds the pitman arm to the track bar. Easy so far....

Now comes the interesting part . The fellow at Cancraft steering told me to give the end of the Pitman arm a good whack with a hammer to loosen the ball-joint on the track bar. Not possible, the end of the pitman arm faces the cross member. I figured I needed a splitter, but he said that they would just wreck the seal on the joint, causing more problems. I thought I could beat the problem by taking off the nut that joins the pitman arm to the steering box spline, and wiggling it off, then turn the pitman arm, so I could hammer the end of it to loosen it off the joint. Sure No way that pitman arm would come off the spline, its on there tight. Plus its very hard to apply downward pressure, or hit it with a hammer, because of it's position. so much for a simple change over..

So whats the trick?? Help... Do I need to buy a ball joint splitter, and risk tearing the seal, or is there another secret thing I'm missing...??

This is not my vehicle, but you can get the idea. This shows the pitman removed from the steering box spline. The other attaching point, (see grease nipple) on tracking arm is what I would really like to get off.

http://chevyhiperformance.com/techar...mage_large.jpg

This picture shows the pitman arm still attatched.

http://chevyhiperformance.com/techar...mage_large.jpg

http://chevyhiperformance.com/techar...mage_large.jpg

This is what I would like to see! (pitman arm removed from steering box spline) Apparently there is a "special" tool you can get for this. More $$.

The other end of the pitman arm joins at the tracking bar joint ( see grease nipple) is the other half of my problem, as I have to install the new pitman arm, that came with the new steering box. As I mentioned the spline is apparently different. If I could just get the tracking bar joint undone from the pitman, I could save the hassle of removing the pitman from the steering box spline altogeather, but this is the only way that I can turn the pitman on the joint to the point that I could give it a good hammer blow, which supposedly will cause it to release, from the joint.