fluid leaking from power steering pump

I crawled under my 97 XJ to find fluid leaking from multiple places. Not thrilled to find this as it will be probably 6 hours worth of work to repair most of them.

The one I found puzzling was the fluid I found leaking from the power steering box. I have replaced both the hoses from the pump before so I checked those first but neither seems to be the culprit. The fluid is centered around the arear where the pittman arm it bolted to the steering box. Any ideas what this might mean and how I can fix it? The box is not original. I had it replaced about 4 years and 65,000 miles ago.

Be sure it's not just leaking up above and dripping on to the below.

There's a seal kit available for the box...not the complete rebuild kit...just for the output AT the pitman. A few o-rings, seal and snap rings. Not expensive. Doesn't look like too bad of a job.

ParadiseXJ said:

There's a seal kit available for the box...not the complete rebuild kit...just for the output AT the pitman. A few o-rings, seal and snap rings. Not expensive. Doesn't look like too bad of a job.

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Here is a link on how to replace the bottom sector shaft seal, it's a little more complicated than it seems. If the bottom bushing is worn and the pitman arm can be rocked up and down, when grabbed at the end where the drag link attaches, don't waste your time, it's time for another box.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/fixing-leaky-steering-box-1088128/
With the box on the bench, this would be the right time to adjust the box, using the FSM instructions.

lazyxj said:

Here is a link on how to replace the bottom sector shaft seal, it's a little more complicated than it seems. If the bottom bushing is worn and the pitman arm can be rocked up and down, when grabbed at the end where the drag link attaches, don't waste your time, it's time for another box.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/fixing-leaky-steering-box-1088128/
With the box on the bench, this would be the right time to adjust the box, using the FSM instructions.

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Thanks for that link! Not looking forward to taking that box out though. I currently live in an apartment so I don't have any good places to work and my Jeep is my daily driver so down time is critical.

Just curious since it is only a seal leak, would this be like a oil leak in that obviously it isn't good and should be repaired but I can drive on it for a while if I NEED to and just make sure the fluid isn't getting too low and top it off if necessary?

Ben824 said:

Just curious since it is only a seal leak, would this be like a oil leak in that obviously it isn't good and should be repaired but I can drive on it for a while if I NEED to and just make sure the fluid isn't getting too low and top it off if necessary?

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Yes.

Keep an eye on your fluid levels, checking them at the gas station & when you get your oil changed. If you top it up & find it "low" in less than 3,000 miles or so, fix the leak. If, like my PS leaks, it gets a little oily under there but never seems to affect fluid level : forget it. Not worth the money / down time.

I have rebuilt well over a hundred steering gears and the pitman arm shaft seal is problematic. In the later years (post Renix) they reduced the number of pressure seals from two down to one. This has increased the failure rate.

On XJ's we stress the boxes pretty hard. This wears out the pitman arm bearing in a hurry. I even see the cast case being deformed and stretched from time to time. No manufacturer makes a rebuild kit for the newer boxes that includes the large bearing. I actually have to buy an early kit and a late kit in order to get all the pieces needed to rebuild the later model boxes. To top everything off, I no longer recommend Edlemann rebuild kits. It seems that they seals are defective and I have gone from not having any leak problems on rebuilt boxes, to the point that probably 25% of my last 20 boxes have had seal failures almost immediately.

NEVER purchase a rebuilt box from Autozone. Due to a shortage of cores to rebuild, I reluctantly purchased three rebuilt units from Autozone. I then tore them down to port them. They were a disaster. None had the right number of recirculating balls in them and none had the right proportion of the large vs small balls.

probably your pitman arm shaft seal you can do a rebuilt kit but its so much easier to just replace the power steering pump out of a JY jeep like i did. its not to difficult to rebuild but i spent less time working on it just by replacing the pump and i didnt need a pitman arm puller.

Ive done the output seals on the gear box. Took less than an hour, and I had no idea what I was doing.