Actually it wasn't bad. I liked the fact that Georg had several Red Head steering boxes on the shelf. A couple of days later the rig was back on the road. I shipped the old one out for a core deposit. No fuss, no muss, no cuss!
Builds Woody (11 Viewers)
- Thread starter majdomo
- Start date
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@majdomo Don’t get too scared, it’s not that hard to do. Definitely sand down the sharp edge where the bores meet. It’s ok to get kind of aggressive with it - I think I started at 120 and worked my way to 400, which was unnecessary. Anyway, the sharp edge of the bores isn’t a feature and it’s not critical, it’s just a byproduct of the manufacturing process. As you slide the piston in you can come in through the other bore and guide the teflon seal with a finger or a dull flathead screwdriver. Just compress it a little bit as it starts to pass the sharp edge. Honestly I cut my first one because I wasn’t really paying attention. Got it right on the second try with minimal effort.
- Thread starter
- #183
Sounds good - thanks for the added detail. I read also a dull tool of some kind (trim puller was the example I saw) was what did it. As long as it squishes down some getting to that part of the housing it should be good to go. The shim / guard idea is just to stick something thin and flexible between the teflon seal and the sharp edge, that I can pull out once it's past the edge. I see a lot of ATF in my future!
This is a good option just in case it gets weird with the rebuild. I'm encouraged by what I've read and seen online to try this on my own, but we'll see how I feel about it after tomorrow..
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- Thread starter
- #185
Well it's all done. It wasn't that bad, all in. The seal on the power piston wasn't that hard, I just used a small blunt screwdriver to push it down when it reached that point on the body. The harder part ended up being the sector shaft - I was stupid and didn't follow the FSM on this point, and instead of screwing the adjuster into the lid and then installing the whole assembly to the body, I pushed the lid and its bearing down onto the body and turned the adjuster to pull it in, which didn't really work. I had to bang on the end of the sector shaft a bit when it was installed to completely seat the top of the shaft into the bearing in the lid. So, don't do that. Some photos, it's possible someone was on this already at some point given the stake marks on some of the parts:
The other more difficult part was that teflon ring that sits inside the O-ring at the sector shaft output. I DID follow the FSM on this point, with a slight modification. I installed the teflon ring in a "heart" shape but then left it as it was sitting inside the O-ring, then installed the spacer and clip, and THEN straightened out the Teflon ring once the spacer and clip were installed:
Pushing the Teflon ring flat again was easy once it wasn't moving up and down, and the sector shaft acted as the SST to flatten it out once installed.
Parts waiting for O-rings and reinstall:
It's now all rebuilt and feels great, but the power steering "groan" is still there when turning left even though there are no bubbles in the fluid and the PS pump is a "new" Lares unit from Summit Racing. Summit will take it back on a warranty refund without a restock fee, but they don't have any more new or rebuilt in stock and I can't find any after a cursory look online.
So there are two options from here, as best I can tell. First is to get the OEM one I have on the shelf rebuilt at B-Z tomorrow, and then return the Lares unit to recoup that cost. Easy, fast, will be finished tomorrow if I go that route, but it will be just a matter of time before it starts leaking again.
The other option is to go Saginaw. But I have concerns about the higher pressure in the box and on the rest of the steering system, so doing more research there and will give Georg @orangefj45 a call on Monday. Fortunately it's all fine (groaning aside) so I don't have to make a decision right this minute.
The other more difficult part was that teflon ring that sits inside the O-ring at the sector shaft output. I DID follow the FSM on this point, with a slight modification. I installed the teflon ring in a "heart" shape but then left it as it was sitting inside the O-ring, then installed the spacer and clip, and THEN straightened out the Teflon ring once the spacer and clip were installed:
Pushing the Teflon ring flat again was easy once it wasn't moving up and down, and the sector shaft acted as the SST to flatten it out once installed.
Parts waiting for O-rings and reinstall:
It's now all rebuilt and feels great, but the power steering "groan" is still there when turning left even though there are no bubbles in the fluid and the PS pump is a "new" Lares unit from Summit Racing. Summit will take it back on a warranty refund without a restock fee, but they don't have any more new or rebuilt in stock and I can't find any after a cursory look online.
So there are two options from here, as best I can tell. First is to get the OEM one I have on the shelf rebuilt at B-Z tomorrow, and then return the Lares unit to recoup that cost. Easy, fast, will be finished tomorrow if I go that route, but it will be just a matter of time before it starts leaking again.
The other option is to go Saginaw. But I have concerns about the higher pressure in the box and on the rest of the steering system, so doing more research there and will give Georg @orangefj45 a call on Monday. Fortunately it's all fine (groaning aside) so I don't have to make a decision right this minute.
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orangefj45
Supporting Vendor
I’ll send you a message …… leaving for OZ for a week ……. plane takes off at midnight tomorrow so please reach out tomorrow. I’ll be at the shop tying up loose ends.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids & Terrain Tamer