Power steering box leaking - brass seats at inlets?

[admin]

My power steering box has been leaking for a while and it finally made it to the top of my "to do" list. It's leaking from the fitting on the low pressure side. I know, weird.

So I bought a new hose thinking the fitting was just old, but it still leaks. I pulled it off and looked at the brass seat inside the box and it appears undamaged and no debris or anything in there. But it does seem to be slightly off center. So I took a sharpie and blacked out the end of the hose fitting, then installed the hose again and tightened it up. I then pulled it back off and checked the end of the fitting where it should seat up against the brass seat. Only about 3/4 of the sharpie ink rubbed off, so it's obviously not seating correctly.

What's the procedure for pulling this brass seat out? Obviously I want to be careful to not damage the threads on the box.

Also, any thoughts on where I can get a replacement seat? The rebuild kits offered by most vendors don't seem to include hard parts like this.

Thanks!

 

[72Sport]

Not sure on how to remove the seats but you might go to your local u pullit yard and look for late 70s and maybe early 80's Dodge PU and their blazer equivalent. They have the same size fittings as a Bronco PS box. You may be able to pull the seats out of one of them, both for replacement and practice before you mess up yours.

I would try the sheetmetal or lag bolt trick like working on MC residual pressure valves.

The seats may have an o'ring under them like Hydratech's Mustang HB adapters.

Sorry never worked on one yet.

 

[ken75ranger]

You could send a message to BwoncoHowie. He had one apart. the thread is probably in the archives.

 

[Mark]

I just went through fighting a similar leak on my high pressure side while installing my new hose. It would not seal.
I tried an O-ring and that seems to have stopped the leak. No leaks after 2 test drives.
If it worked on my high pressure side then I'm sure it'd work on the low pressure side.

 

[admin]

Mark, you mean you tried a different hose with the o-ring style end, right? You didn't just add an o-ring to it did you? Can you just change from the inverted flare type hose to an o-ring style? I would have thought the seat would have to change also.

 

[72Sport]

Went to the yard today. Pulled a seat out of a Scout box. It looks like they have a press fit on the id of the hole in the box. The brass seat is larger in diameter where the brass seat engages the hole. There happened to be a 1/4" dia battery bolt handy. The battery hold down bolt wouldn't line up quite right so I threaded it in the brass seat anyway. The threads grabbed well enough inside the brass seat that with a slight tug it came out and fell on the ground.

I would try removing your seat and coating the underside with a non hardening permatex form a gasket and re-install the seat and see what happens.

The seat looks just like a faucet seat without the threads on the outside. Yours probably has a nick or scratch on the sealing diameter where it fits into the machined ps box return hole.

If that doesn't do it try a copper gasket (brake line crush washer) or a very thin o'ring under the flange of the seat. When you re-install the the steel line it will push the seat down and flatten out the o'ring creating a seal.

I have the scout seat. If yours is damaged and is the same as the scout I'll send it to you.

 

[72Sport]

Mark, you mean you tried a different hose with the o-ring style end, right? You didn't just add an o-ring to it did you? Can you just change from the inverted flare type hose to an o-ring style? I would have thought the seat would have to change also.

I have seen several Ford flat plate trans coolers with o'rings used to help seal the inverted flares. The had a very thin o'ring that was slightly smaller than the flare on the end of the tube. I guess it provided a double seal so the seals wouldn't leak.

When I saw the first one with o'rings I thought a PO had been messing. But I found at least 6 in various yards with o'rings so it was probably a Ford thing to prevent seepage. The same type of thing may fix your leak.

 

[Mark]

Mark, you mean you tried a different hose with the o-ring style end, right? You didn't just add an o-ring to it did you? Can you just change from the inverted flare type hose to an o-ring style? I would have thought the seat would have to change also.

It was during my H-boost install using the pictured 11/16" to 6 AN inverted flare. It wouldn't seal. I slipped an O-ring on it and everything is looking good.
You can see the Oring in the next photo. The white stuff is Nylon compound I attempted resulting in disappointment. I have to clean this area up obviously.