I am trying to remove the arm off the steering box, to change the oil seal, to stop it dribbling on the new drive. I have a reasonable 3 leg puller, but it is not shifting it. I found some “pitman arm removal pullers” on Amazon, and wondered if they may be a better option. I have heard talk of hydraulic pullers, but can’t find any photos or YouTube videos of them being used. I have a spare steering box to practice on, and two sets of new seals to try. Cheers.
This is the kit that did it for me - there was a spare arm on my spare box to practice on. Plenty of threads on the topic. Leave nut on output shaft a couple of turns. Different rules pre 73. Easy enough to dismantle box and give it a good clean and easier to remove seals - you can use a hot knife. Have a play with your spare box, you might want to cannibalise one to make a goodun. Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
Crank your puller right up - hydraulic ones are better, but use what you've got - lash the box to your Workmate, and clap both sides of the steering arm boss with two big hammers. They'll momentarily distort the casting (only needs to be a fraction of a mm) and the arm should come flying off the taper on the steering box shaft. Worked for me.
I use a 6 inch 3 arm puller I bought from Cromwell Tools , set it up, do up the bolts in the puller really tightly. I think it cost about £36. And drive it with an 18 inch breaker bar and my foot on it while the box is still in the bus. Then all I have to watch out for is the puller dropping out from under the bus onto my foot..
This also works taking propellors off tapered shafts on boats. Although I have heard of somebody pulling a fairly big propellor off a super yacht using a ring of plastic explosive underwater..
Just waiting on the puller arriving from Amazon, and then will dose it in Milton and then try to see if the arm budges. I’ll report back.
After replacing the two axial oil seals, I saw that the steering box still leaked from underneath the worm lid, so am making gaskets from gasket paper using a shim as a template. Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
Ok steering arm is off, I used the puller as recommended and a bit of hammer action, and it went in the end. So I will clean up and change the seals in the spare box first and then if all goes well remove the one off the bay, and repeat the exercise. I have adjusted up the spare box quite nicely with slight play, so I will fit whichever seems to be best back on the camper. The spare one has a 32mm nut while the one on the van is a 30mm does that signify anything? They look the same apart from that. My bay is (mostly) a 1973 and the donor van for the spares was a rotten 1976.
I would inspect the way the output arm sits in the box without the input shaft in place. Pick the box with the least wobble as the housing for your " best" steering box. The bushings on mine are worn tapered internally. The bushing on the output shaft is also cast in and difficult to replace without a machine shop.
Do both output shafts have the same thread? If so doubt it matters Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
I’ll check when I get the other steering box off the van, the body of the box is physically the same, but I can’t see part numbers on the one on the van.
Managed to swap the steering boxes over tonight, the one in the camper really seemed in bad condition, the rubber seal protector was missing from the drop arm, and the shaft looked rusty, which is probably why the seal went in the first place and got worse as I drove it more. The new seals have been in the spare steering box for a few days and there was no sign of any leaks, and I topped the oil up. I haven’t had chance to test drive it yet, but the lockdown is being relaxed slightly here, so I may go out for a drive over the next few days and report back.
