FJ60 PS Box Rebuild
|
Tech information furnished by Scott Leslie From: "Scott Leslie" swleslie@voicenet.com Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 22:42:29 -0500 Subject: [LCML] Notes on Power Steering GearBox This weekend I rebuilt the P/S Gear Box on my '86 FJ60. As always, I was completely in awe of how well everything is designed and built. Here are my observations. Seal Kit, available from Toyota & Spector, I paid 108$ locally. Comes with assortment of rubber o-rings, teflon wear rings, and two dust seals. Parts guys know me now at the local Toyota dealer, will special order with no pre-payment; they know I'm one of the few, the proud, the poor. Removal Local parts store had a genuine Pitman Arm puller for $11 rental, looks identical to the one in the Toyota manual. Someone recently posted about having a three jaw puller come apart under load at close range, this tool did the trick with no heating required. After tightening the puller good and hard, I fit a long piece of 3/4" iron rod down through the engine compartment and wacked on the Pitman Arm from above until it let loose. Pitman Arm nut will fit a 1 1/4" box wrench. Some scrap 1X3 steel channel will provide extra torque on the wrench. Also, the handle on a Hi-Lift makes for an excellent extension for extra leverage on a beefy breaker bar. Dismantling We all have our vices and in this case a vice of some sort is a neccesity. The gear box is just too bulky and heavy to work on without one. Be careful when tapping the cross shaft out of the housing, mine got stuck midway and it sounded and felt like it was trapped against the needle bearings. I tapped it back in place, then started again and it came right out. Avoid dismantling in someone's borrowed wood shop if possible. Power steering fluid and saw dust are mutually attracted to each other. I was amazed at how completely the cross shaft dust seal had failed. Sand and grit was frightfully close to the moving parts inside, which also explains why it was leaking like a sieve to begin with. Replacment of the seals is very straightforward, just follow the directions in the manual Re-assembly The manual warns NOT to dismantle the power piston. Getting all those steel balls to work just so is a real PITA! But at least I now know for sure what the term "recirculating balls" means. I finally coated each one with a little grease and stacked them carefully inside the 'nut', then threaded the worm screw in carefully. Educational but something I would avoid if possible. The manual calls for at least five different SSTs. Some of these are used to set preload. The SST required to remove the worm screw cover looked impossible to duplicate until I tried a pipe wrench, there is just enough thickness in the cover to get a grip. Forget about adjusting the pre-load as indicated in the manual, all of the adjustments are set "in stone". Hate to admit it but I adjusted the pre-loads by feel while tightening the worm screw cover (used large channel locks for this) Make sure the Pitman Arm is TIGHT, just think of that thing coming off at highway speed, then tighten it some more! Same goes for the tie rod, be sure that the nut is secured before driving any distance. Results Steering is more responsive, there may be slightly less wander, hopefully the drivers side undercarriage will no longer be coated in oily slime. Manual calls for plain old ATF for fluid, not power steering fluid. This took me the better part of the weekend working on and off between other activities. This was definitely less expensive than replacing the entire gearbox. Hope this helps. Posted February 19, 2002 |