Thread: Repairing a Leaking Steering Box

If there's one common trait across all Land Rovers it's their ability to return hydrocarbon (and other) fluids back to the earth from whence they came.

Sort of enviromentally friendly before it became trendy.

Of the many fluid leaks your Landy may develop a leaking steering box is perhaps the least often repaired with replacement a common option, often at vast expense $600+.
I've read various posts justifying this action as "by the time the seals leak the box is stuffed anyway" or "not worth the effort for a second rate result" or "way too hard, better to buy a new one".
What a load of crap !!

Many LR steering boxes leak because the lower seal(s) have failed due to old age. The steering box is quite fine. Seal kits are available, either a complete kit which has oodles of seals, most you'll never use or a bottom seal kit. Google and eBay is your friend. For $40 - $60 you'll have all the bits (and more) than you'll need, and this is for a quality Corteco seal kit.

I've done 3 now, one each in a '88 Classic, a '95 Defender and a '94 D1. All had '4 bolt' steering boxes.

Mrs. Beeton was credited in her 'Jugged Hare' recipie as saying , ............ first catch your hare. Well, in this case.......... first remove your steering box.

Steering Box Removal

I'm not going to cover this (remove/refit) in any detail, but park your LR on a good flat surface with the steering wheel in an exact straight ahead position. Hopefully your wheels are pretty well straight ahead also. Disconnect the drag link from the end of the Pitman arm (remove split pin, loosen off bolt and belt opposite sides of Pitman arm simultaneously with big hammers will do the job. If a problem use bigger hammers ). Next remove the 3 bolts (and nuts if fitted) from the steering shaft uni joints and pull back steering shaft from steering box. Remove RH end of Panhard rod and check bolt, it's probably stuffed (funny how the High Tensile bolt wears but the bush remains OK ).
Next undo the 2 hydraulic lines from the top of the steering box making sure there's a suitable container underneath to catch the 500ml or so of steering fluid that will leak out.

There's now 4 bolts through the front chassis rail (which may or may not have locking tabs) to remove (can help to remove front RHS wheel but be careful not to alter wheel straight ahead position) and two bolts under the steering box connecting to a cast bracket.

The steering box will now drop on your head if you're not carefull, so take care.

Place the steering box in a leak proof container as it will be leaking red fluid all over the place. Now's a good time to clean/gurnie it if neccessary.

Steering Box Bottom Seal Replacement

The upside down steering box/Pitman arm looks like this



Flatten out the tab washer and remove the big nut. It can be a bit of a bugger to remove the Pitman arm from the steering box output shaft. The same two hammer method (as ball joint removal) often works and can be done in situ before removing the steering box if you wish. You don't have to worry about marking the Pitman arms position on the shaft as there's master splines that take care of this.

Worst case get one of these Piman arm pullers from Repco/Supacheap/Bursons etc for around $25.



You may have to grind approx 1mm or so from the bottom to fit it as shown. note. the bottom dust seal has been cut off to allow fitting of the puller.

If you go down this route don't just tighten the puller bolt until the casting breaks . Tighten and belt the sides of the pitman arm with previously mentioned large hammers to 'flex' the tapered Pitman arm steering output shaft untill it frees.

With the outer dust seal removed it will look something like this.



Next remove the circlip, easily said but it can truly be a 'Jesus spring' if you're not careful. Two people, one with circlip pliers and one with a couple of small screwdrivers is handy here.



What we have here is the circlip removed and two 3mm holes drilled into the outer seal so that it can be 'jagged' up and outward so a thin bladed screwdriver can be used to remove it.

Under this may be a thin fibrous washer that is easily removed (not all steering box's have this spacer/washer).



Under this is the actual seal that is leaking and causing all your problems. It is easily 'jagged' out with a small screwdriver.



When it's all cleaned up it looks like this.



Here's a shot showing the bits in order of removal with the replacement bits underneath. note. the new (blue) seal replaces the old seal AND the fibrous spacer/washer.



Next carefully fit the blue seal as shown taking care not to damage its lip. I used a smear of Power Steering Fluid here as a lubricant.



Tamping the seal down with a piece of toothbrush handle ensures no damage and that the seal seats correctly.



Next comes the outer seal, note the inner rubber 'flange' on the seal points outward.



Refit the circlip (not shown).

The dust cover comes next and fits this way.



NOT this way.



When its all done it looks like this.



Which is pretty much what we started with, except it now doesn't leak.

Re-fit Steering Box.

Same as removal basically, just make sure the steering wheel is in EXACTLY the same position as prior to removal of steering box when inserting the lower spline of the steering shaft into the steering box and all is sweet.

Refill reservoir with new Power Steering Fluid, run engine, top up fluid and all is good. note. keep cap on power steering fluid reservoir or it will spurt all over the place as air is expelled from the system.

The whole job takes about 4 hours (depending on Pitman arm removal) and is not particularly difficult though it can be a bit fiddly removing the outer seal and is a hell of a lot cheaper fix at <$60 vs. >$600 for a new one.



Deano

I just purchased a 2nd hand one, when it arrives my plan is to open it up, reseal it then put it in, I cant afford my car off the road for to long, ill probably reseal my leaky box once I have a non leaky one in place,

can never have to many spares