Power Steering Input Seal Replacement

It was raining today; so I couldn’t do anything else so I put her back in the garage and cleaned up the power steering “area”.

I’ve had a small leak coming from somewhere over there, but never enough to worry me and it was mixed/soaked into a half inch of Georgia clay so no telling where it stems from.

Got it cleaned up and let it run until something showed and it looks like I’ve got a leak in the input shaft seal (where the column shaft enters above the frame).

Looked up kits and stuff and they’re cheap, but is this something I could possibly do without removing the entire steering box?

Or am I looking at removing the box and doing a larger rebuild/clean?

Note that this is my daily driver and it can only be out of commission from 5pm on Friday to 730am on Monday if I’m going to do the work myself.

Let me know if you’ve got some experience or tips on how to make this work.

My experience is that it’s much easier just to remove the box. Leave the pitman arm on it and pull it out the top. The lower column will only go back in the same position that it came so there are no alignment issues to deal with. It’s an easy fix once you have the box out...

Everything on my Bronco leaked when I bought it. That’s how I got my user name...

Slowleak said:

My experience is that it’s much easier just to remove the box. Leave the pitman arm on it and pull it out the top. The lower column will only go back in the same position that it came so there are no alignment issues to deal with. It’s an easy fix once you have the box out...

Everything on my Bronco leaked when I bought it. That’s how I got my user name...

Click to expand...

Everything is easier when removed.
It's another one of those WHILE I'VE GOT IT OUT worm holes I'll end up falling down.

Did you have any luck with this fix? I just did the power steering overhaul kit from TBP and redid it all myself. Took it out this morning and noticed a pretty good leak from the steering input shaft. Would this be because I didn’t get the oil seal in properly? First try it was crooked so I had to knock it out and redo it, I’m guessing maybe I damaged it or compromised the new seal doing this?