Re: [FWDLK] Power steering leak

[Rich Barber <c300@xxxxxxx>]

I just spent over $700 to have a PS unit overhauled by Straightline Steering
in San Jose, CA.  It still leaks.  There is indication the lower end was
never disassembled.  If you do have it overhauled, I suggest having a long
discussion over what seals they have.  Most are hard or impossible to
purchase and may have to be fabricated by the shop.  I never did get a
straight answer as to what power steering fluid to use.  Type A is not
available around here, so I used Dexron III.  The shop recommended 90W oil
in the upper section?turns out they did not replace the upper seal, either,
so fluid oozed out of the upper neck when the unit was level on the bench.
The 90W recommendation was apparently to minimize this leakage.  Should have
thrown in some oatmeal and sawdust!  The original service manual says Type A
ATF in the lower, high-pressure unit and suggests using the same for the
upper atmospheric pressure unit that contains the recirculating ball
section.  In use, leakage from the upper neck would not happen due to the
angle of the shaft and the presence of an overflow system that has a weep
hole on top of the casting, near the mating flanges.  This allows any
leakage from the high pressure lower section into the atmospheric upper
section to overflow through the weep hole.  The shop manual shows this
fairly clearly.

Straightline also painted the unit and I wish they had not, for authenticity
sake.  A nicely-cleaned aluminum would have been prettier and ?factory?.
They have a one-year warranty on the unit, so we shall see whether they do
any better the next time.  I don?t know how they can do any better without
getting new seals.

Before I took the unit to San Jose, I received the e-mail shown below.  I
talked to Steer and Gear and feel they are probably a less expensive and
better place as they acknowledged having to go to great effort to obtain or
fabricate parts, but they could not get the unit turned around in time for a
long trip to the national meet of the Chrysler 300 Club, Int?l. in Lawton,
OK. And my old unit was spouting oil.  I had purchased a used unit on eBay
and had it redone.  It took all the slack out of the steering system, so
they may have changed out the little sector gear, or the used unit was in
better shape.  It now works OK, although there is some buzzing and some
dripping.

By the way, acting on a club member?s recommendation, I purchased a NAPA
Part number 7-829 power steering hose for my 1955 Chrysler 300.  It is a
little longer than the original and had to be routed back toward the
firewall to prevent rubbing if routed forward.  The steel tubes at each end
have different bends and I had to change out the high-pressure fitting on
the pump with a fitting from a spare pump I had to make the connection.  My
?55 had a malexmale fitting at the HP outlet, and my spare pump had the
required maleXfemale outlet fitting.  The whole routing, hose design are a
mystery to me.  It appears the high pressure hose could simply run parallel
to the low pressure return hose, and would not require a hose size change
reducer in the middle of the hose if the pump and steering box fittings had
been made the same diameter.  The only thing I can think of is that Chrysler
was trying to get some cooling out of the longer hose, or possibly there was
some hydraulic hammer or pulsation that was eliminated with the oddball hose
with the special kinks in the steel end pieces.

That?s the long answer.

The short answer to your question is found in Section 22 on page 423 of the
1955 Service Manual.  ?The steering gear shaft seal may be replaced (with
the unit in car) similarly to the method outlined in paragraph 18.  There is
a bearing, seal and seal lock ring on the shaft.  If you can find some or
all of those pieces, you might get off lucky.

Best wishes for better luck than I had. 

Rich Barber
Brentwood, CA
1955 Chrysler C-300

Hello Rich,
 
We aren't currently rebuilding these steering gears ourselves due to the
difficulty we've had coming up with the replacement components required for
the rebuild.  We've used Steer & Gear in Columbus, Ohio with good success in
the past couple of years; their phone number is 614-231-4064.
 
Hope this helps, and let us know if there is anything else you might need,
 
Jeff
 
JC Auto Restoration, Inc.
20815 52nd Ave W. #2
Lynnwood, WA  98036
ph: (425) 672-8324
fax: (425) 771-2522
www.jcauto.com
jcauto@xxxxxxxxxx


Rich Barber
Brentwood, CA
________________________________________
From: Forward Look Mopar Discussion List
[mailto:L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Charles M. Deyoe Jr.
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 5:26 PM
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [FWDLK] Power steering leak

Hi Everyone I have a leak on the pitman shaft seal on my 55 New Yorker that
seems to keep leaking.  I have changed the seal twice and it will stop for a
week or so then it will drip again.  I was wondering if anyone else has had
this problem or knows the best way to correct this? 

 I can always remove it and have it rebuilt if that is what is needed but
other than the leak the steering system works great.

Thanks again for the help
Chuck Deyoe Jr 
1955 New Yorker 

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