jaymann

Anyone know where I can find the pitman shaft seal for a 1956 w/ power steering?
The box is leaking so bad the car is not driveable! It's literally pouring out fluid. No wonder it was empty when I bought the car.

hialeah56

napa auto parts p/n 12371
http://www.napaautoparts.com/
but take yours out and match it because these people make a lot of mistakes

jaymann

thanks for the part number...I'll see what they turn up.

jaymann

NAPA found that part, but their computer only goes back as far as 1957.
they also had a "kit" listed. part #12392. it has the inner seal ,2 washers an outer seal and the snap ring. Of course they didn't mark which seal is which! One is noticeably taller than the other.
It looks like it might be the one, so I took a chance and bought it. I guess I'll find out when I pop the old ones out.

AndyBee

Hello everybody, i´m a newbie at this forum, (actually this is my first reply)
I have a ´56 olds 88 holiday 4 dr ht with the exact same problem! It leaks mostly then the car is parked, engine off, it seems to be leaking much less then the engine is running, i suppose there´s pressure which tightens the seal?

I wonder how this seal is changed, do i have to disassemble the steering gear box or can the change be done at the car?

regards andy bee from sweden

hialeah56

cool let me know how it turns out, I may need to rebuild mine once I find a power steering colunm

The gearbox would most likely need to be removed from the car because of where it's at. By the way welcome to CO

jaymann

I'll let you know how it turns out if I can ever get the darn pitman arm off!
I've been trying for days. Broke a puller. Heat, Hammer , puller, impact gun, pb blaster, hasn't budged it yet!

442Harv

Not sure about 56, but on the newer ones like 70, remover the pitman arm, loosen the nut, or remove, then have a buddy strart the car, and turn the wheel, and you catch the seal and bearings, will fall out.

jaymann

The seals will be easy to pop out that way...but after 54 years, that darn pitman arm is practically welded on.

442Harv

Did you try heating it with a torch?

jaymann

As per my earlier post, I've tried heat, hammer , puller , impact gun , pb blaster in every combination I can think of.
I'm going to give it another try but if it still won't budge...This weekend I'm going to have to pull the steering box off and work it on the bench.

hialeah56

Pulling it off is probably your best bet, btw have you tried hammering a wedge between the arm and the box?

Danny Wiseley

Try the 50-50 mix of ATF and acetone. I read that it works really well.
Good luck!
DW

jaymann

2 weeks later ...the damn thing came off!!
I tried 2 pullers (one broke) a can of PB Blaster, Impact wrench, Heat, BFH (hammer)
Air Chisel with pickle fork, pickle fork with BFH , Every combination I could think of...
I finally had to pull the box off. After heating it up spraying some Pb Blast, heating again, I put the Pitman puller back on as tight as I could and whacked away with a hammer.
I tried to tighten the puller some more and was able to give it a couple more pulls...giving me hope that it loosened.
A few more whacks and the thing popped off like nothing.

There is a benefit to me pulling the box, I noticed the high pressure line is cracking.
Now I have to find a place to rebuild that hose.
At least I'll find out if that seal kit works now!!

hialeah56

jaymann

I finally got enough time to work on the car. The seal kit comes with 2 seals , but you can't possibly fit both seals in. There's not enough room. I've looked up many different sources and some say there's 2 seals, others say 1 seal and a dust cover.
I put it back together with one seal and new hoses and it's leak free.

I also dropped the fuel tank to check the sending unit because the gas gauge only comes up to an 1/8th. That was a whole other can of worms. J bolts broke getting them off. The in tank filter was completely plugged and the gas in the bottom of the tank looked like a mix of rust colored water and sand.

I tested the sending unit and the gauge works when I move the sender manually.
Checked the float and it had a hole in it. Patched it up and went searching for a gasket and filter for it...good luck with that!
I ended up ordering parts from a Tri-Five Chevy place and they worked great.
Put the tank back in and the gauge still doesn't work!

Went and got insurance on it and took it for my first ever test drive today. After hearing a rattle I returned home and notice a loose belt. Tightened up and still heard a rattle. I was thinking water pump bearing, but then noticed the Harmonic Balancer was wobbly. Turns out the rubber is shot and the balancer separated.
Put the car back in the garage and spent the day pulling the balancer off to send it for rebuilding....of course there's a big crack in it!!!!!!!!

I'm having one of those days!

AndyBee

Hey Jaymann, do you think it´s possible to remove the seal without removing the gearbox? i ordered a seal, it was only one seal, hope it fits. how did you get the seal off, did you remove the pitman shaft? or did you just collapse the seal and fitted the new one? the more detail i get the happier i would be, thanks!

jaymann

If I could have got the pitman arm off while the gearbox was still on the car I'm sure I could have got the seal out. It would have made life easier.
I took a sheet metal screw and screwed it into the old seal and yanked it out. Be careful not to scratch the bore that the seal goes into...I put a small gouge in mine that I had to sand smooth.
The pitman shaft doesn't have to come out. Make sure you tape up the splines on the shaft so you don't damage them, and also so you don't ruin the new seal putting it on. It's real easy to nick the seal on the splines of the shaft.
I had a piece of pipe that fit perfectly over the shaft to tap the new seal in.

The seal I removed had a washer/seal/washer/snap ring...looking at it, it didn't seem like that first washer should be there...it's basically blocking the seal from doing it's job.
The diagram I have said it should be seal/washer/dustcover/washer/snap ring, but there's no way all that could fit in my gearbox. So I installed seal/washer/washer/snap ring. It works so far! (although because of the busted balancer I haven't it running more than a half hour.
All in all, it would have been a half hour job if the pitman arm would have come off nice and easy!

Hope that helps!