Power Steering Gear Box Replacement (1 Viewer)

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Finally decided to address my badly leaking power steering system today by first tightening the clamps on the return lines, making a new gasket for the reservoir cap (whenever I run the truck frothy ATF spews from the cap) and finally flushing the system and replenishing it with new ATF. I took it for a test drive and the gear box as groaning as usual until eventually I almost lost all power steering. I checked the reservoir and it was empty. I thought maybe there was air in the system taking up space that I hadn't totally evacuated and I put some more ATF in. Power steering was back! but then when I stopped the truck and got out I noticed a healthy stream of ATF pouring from the gear box. Guess its time to bust out the wallet. From my searching on here people tend to suggest buying a remanufactured gear box rather than trying to rebuild it yourself as they often leak when you rebuild them yourself. I've also seen people suggest getting an 80 series gear box to replace the fj60 gearbox. I'm trying to figure out what I should do, would love some advice! I like saving money and Im not afraid of taking something apart to rebuild it but where should I source a kit for this if I go that route? If its best to just buy a whole rebuilt box would I be better off getting an 80 series box or would it not even fit on an '85? Thanks!

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Later FJ60’s can directly swap to an FJ80 box. IIRC the cutoff is 4/85. Look at the bolt pattern of your box if the holes are square it’s later and if you have 1 hole askew from the others it’s early. If you choose to order a new 80 box you’d get the upgraded 105 sector shaft and larger power piston for around $1500. Redhead quoted me $500 + tax and shipping to rebuild mine. Good option but too much for a simple rebuild imo, lots of videos on the internet on how to do this stuff. It’s not rocket science. I opted to rebuild on my own and it was roughly $140 shipped for the kit from @cruiseroutfit . Highly recommend buying from them. If you do decide to rebuild be VERY careful when reinstalling the power piston teflon seal back into the housing. Make sure you do not clip it on the inside edge.
 
Later FJ60’s can directly swap to an FJ80 box. IIRC the cutoff is 4/85. Look at the bolt pattern of your box if the holes are square it’s later and if you have 1 hole askew from the others it’s early. If you choose to order a new 80 box you’d get the upgraded 105 sector shaft and larger power piston for around $1500. Redhead quoted me $500 + tax and shipping to rebuild mine. Good option but too much for a simple rebuild imo, lots of videos on the internet on how to do this stuff. It’s not rocket science. I opted to rebuild on my own and it was roughly $140 shipped for the kit from @cruiseroutfit . Highly recommend buying from them. If you do decide to rebuild be VERY careful when reinstalling the power piston teflon seal back into the housing. Make sure you do not clip it on the inside edge.
If I remember correctly a new 80 box does not come with the 105 sector shaft, and that it has to be ordered seperately and then installed.
 
85 was a transitiom year on the steering box bolt pattern

I posted pics of the 2 boxes next to each other many years ago:


the later box is the same pattern as the 80 box
 
Yeah it’s funny, I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side.
On the 80’s forum, the 80’s steering gearbox is considered a weak link and they recommend upgrading that steering box with the sector shaft from the 100 series.
 
Following as I’m in the same boat (though not as bad as you).

I have the quotes for a rebuild, but given how bad yours is, you may want to check the lines themselves.
 
Following as I’m in the same boat (though not as bad as you).

I have the quotes for a rebuild, but given how bad yours is, you may want to check the lines themselves.

Yeah I’ll be replacing the soft return lines for sure and taking out the hard lines to inspect them. Currently considering just going the cheapo route and opening the box up and replacing all the seals rather than doing a full rebuild kit. It’s hard to argue with the $17 price tag of a seal kit on rock auto. Wondering if I should also remove the reservoir and replace the o-ring at the bottom of that as well. It’s really hard to tell what leaks on the whole system because who knows how long this stuffs been spewing from the reservoir cap and hitting everything on its way down from there. I’m not even that worried about little leaks, I had this whole repair on my to-do-in-the-distant-future list until it got truly horrible once I flushed the system yesterday.
 
Nope. Incorrect.
Huh, that's interesting. Have replacement 80 units always had the 105 sector shaft or was this a revision at some point?
 
I’ll probably do the same thing. Just swap out mine for an 80 box. When I do go this route, which year model 80 series should I order? Also, where would a good place be to order from?
 
I'm about to jump into this mod. New 80 series steering gear boxes are $400. Not sure why everyone hasn't done this. Anybody that has gone this route, what other items am I not thinking about that I will need? Can I reuse the pitman arm from my 60 box? Do i need a new steering coupler/yoke thing? Threads for inlet/high pressure line look to be the same.
 
I'm about to jump into this mod. New 80 series steering gear boxes are $400. Not sure why everyone hasn't done this. Anybody that has gone this route, what other items am I not thinking about that I will need? Can I reuse the pitman arm from my 60 box? Do i need a new steering coupler/yoke thing? Threads for inlet/high pressure line look to be the same.

What brand are new $400 boxes, not Toyota. If the sector shaft is an 80 series you can use the 60 series pitman arm, if 105 you have to go with the 80 series arm. Aside from the possible pitman arm issue everything will bolt up.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot to update this thread. I got the $17 Edelmann 8770 kit and replaced everything in my gearbox with all the kit pieces with the exception of the two teflon rings that people have a hell of a time getting back in without ripping. Apparently the rings in this cheapo kit are reportedly larger than the original which complicates things further. I felt it was safest to avoid the hassle and possibility of botching the whole job by destroying the original rings upon removal and the new ones upon reassembly. I mainly just needed to replace the input shaft seal which turned out to have been put in backwards by a previous owner which explains the horrendous leak. The inside of the box was somewhat gunky. Cleaned everything out and inspected bearings and then reassembled. It was an easy job until I got to reassembling the worm gear bearings. I still don't really know how I did it. The videos I watched had pretty horrible explanations but on my 10th or so attempt of me dropping them in and jiggling/turning the shaft they finally all lined up properly and didn't bind when turning the shaft any which way. Took me an afternoon to complete the job and now power steering works again on my 60 and theres no leaks or groaning. I also replaced the high pressure line with the $14 Edelmann 71210 hose. Direct match although the tightening nuts on the hose are imperial rather than metric. I replaced the soft return lines with a couple feet of 3/8" TOC hose from the auto parts store. Feels good to have that taken care of and cost less than $40.
 
I'm about to jump into this mod. New 80 series steering gear boxes are $400. Not sure why everyone hasn't done this. Anybody that has gone this route, what other items am I not thinking about that I will need? Can I reuse the pitman arm from my 60 box? Do i need a new steering coupler/yoke thing? Threads for inlet/high pressure line look to be the same.
List on the box is $4,916.73.....I know it seems crazy!
 
You can find it on RockAuto for $375.
 
Yeah, but those are off brand boxes. I'd find a good used OEM 80 series box before I'd go with one the RA cheapos.
Rockauto has remanufactured 80 series boxes and they're actually closer to $300 if you return your core. I'm assuming a reman box means its a genuine toyota box thats been rebuilt but thats just a guess. Is it possible they're remanufacturing off-brand boxes? Double woof if thats the case.
 

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