PS box on my truck decided to puke fluid out the bottom the past two days. Been dripping but I always assumed it was fuel from the leaky injection pump (another of this summers projects). never been here before but apparently it's a common failure.
Googled the 3C538 number to see that it's still available.
Duralast 8515 Pitman arm seal kit for $13.05 will be here tomorrow. Then I'll use the seal dimensions to make a driver and see if I can get it fixed in the truck.
Steve F.
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
'72 Ranger XLT, 4x2, 390-2V, C6, Wind blue & Wimbledon White (‘Smokey’)
2016 F150 Lariat FX4 Supercrew, Ruby Red
Follow my build thread for 'Smokey': http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopi ... 22&t=85070
Well, it's kind of dumb and I'm not 100% sure what happened beyond the snap ring popped out. Possibly they didn't seat the bushing all the way during the rebuild. You basically get a seal, a metal washer, then another seal and washer as a stack held in the bore with an ID snap ring. The ring dropped out on mine and the seal stack worked it's way out. The bottom seal wasn't even wet and everything looked new. Pushed the stack of new parts up in the bore and tried seating the snap ring. Wasn't real impressed with the fit so I removed one steel washer and installed the snap ring again. It fit better the 2nd time so that's how we sit. I just need to go get some fluid to have it moving again. Kept the extra parts for next time...
Disassembly wasn't horrible, just removed the nut with a 1 1/4" socket and 3/4" impact, then used a 5 lb hammer on a 3' long pry bar from above to knock the pitman arm off.
Welp, that didn't work. Spit the seal back out when I pulled it out to the alley. So now I need to figure out how the magic happens and what seal would blow that would allow enough pressure to the pitman arm seal to blow the snap ring out the bottom...
Punted and ordered a replacement from Autozone, $205 less core once swapped out ($54). At least from them it'll have a limited lifetime warranty kept online unlike wherever this one came from (I think NAPA).
I found my 1974 Ford Truck shop manual that describes the rebuild process for this box but I didn't see any real hydraulic functional description beyond it using a torsion rod to actuate the valves. I feel confident I could take it apart a couple times and eventually either fix it or be really sore so chose to buy another rebuild. I have a bunch of projects lined up that need it running towards the end of the month so hopefully this'll work out.
So, today was the day, more or less to get the box swapped out. Ran into problems from the beginning. Seems I seated the pitman arm a little too well. Ended up getting a popper from Autozone after removing the hood so I could use a sledge hammer against a digging bar to try and break it free. Welp, the brake lines suffered and I decided to go ahead and replace the leaking master cylinder as well. Picked up a 1 1/8" bore aluminum one for a '94 F-350 and a pair of new lines from NAPA.
Getting the new box installed turned into another mess. For some odd reason the new box doesn't fit the frame. The new part castings look the same as the original but no FoMoCo part number makes me think they aren't quite the same. Ended up heating and dimpling the frame @ 3/16" where the front of the box was hitting the top. Not too impressed but it eventually bolted together well.
I'll try to post some pics tomorrow when it's light out again.
