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leaking PSC steerin gear box, wtf???

knucklehead 61

NAXJA Forum User
while running the rubicon trail my PSC steering box developed a nasty leak.
it looks like the fluid is coming from the front cover. the lines are not leaking. is this an easy fix? did it blow out a seal or o-ring? i am sure that i will need to remove the gear box & throw it on the bench to repair...:repair:
 
There's a large o-ring that needs to be replaced, no big deal. Just need to remove the retaining ring and the cover comes right off. You might even be able to do it in the jeep just loosen 2 of the bolts and tilt it forward.
 
Could be lots of stuff, PSC boxes are really no different from a stock box internally except for the pretty sticker, all boxes leak at some point. Did you completely flush out all the old fluid and junk out of the system before you put it in. Are you running larger tires than the stock PS system can handle (above 33's hydro assist is a really good idea), I'm guessing you don't run a cooler, how old is the pump, is it making noise?
 
the gear was in my xj when i bought it.
i run 35's, 4.88's & arb's in both ends.
pump may be trashed now as i had to drive it 260 miles from the rubicon back home while dumping atf into it frequently.
 
I meant was the pump making noise as in was it bad and throwing out chunks of metal into the fluid. This can contribute to seals leaking as can not changing the fluid often enough and it becoming full of dirt and other contaminants, other times it's just excessive stress on the system causing the seals to blow out or wear prematurely. It really comes down to two things either the bearing is bad on the sector shaft cause it to have play and destroying seal or the seal is just old and dried out and is starting leak. In either case the fix is simple, even replacing the bearing is not big deal. Mine was just the seal so I got a gasket kit from Rock Auto that fixed mine up it was like $20. I've found this out after getting feed with swapping out leaking boxes every year or so. Just looked it up in my FSM and was surprised how simple it was to replace the seals on it, no rocket science needed. It think it was just one snap ring and pulling out some seals.
 
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i dropped the box down, pulled the snap ring & end cover to find that the o-ring was wasted. looked like it had deteriorated quite a bit. could using atf have caused that?
also, it looks like the bore is hard chromed & some of it is flaking off. do i need to replace the whole gear box or is that not a big deal?
i think i need to call psc monday...
 
Excessive stress?

Maybe you did it here-
HH8_10_0138.jpg


Or here-
HH8_10_0144.jpg


:)
 
i dropped the box down, pulled the snap ring & end cover to find that the o-ring was wasted. looked like it had deteriorated quite a bit. could using atf have caused that?
also, it looks like the bore is hard chromed & some of it is flaking off. do i need to replace the whole gear box or is that not a big deal?
i think i need to call psc monday...
I've been told not to use ATF in the PS by my local club guys after my last round of box/pump failures so I don't anymore. I would flush all the ATF out of it and use the recommended fluid. As for the metal flaking, it could be normal wear. If they won't warrantee it I would clean it up real good with brake cleaner inside and run it. Was there any junk inside the box at all?
 
I meant was the pump making noise as in was it bad and throwing out chunks of metal into the fluid. This can contribute to seals leaking as can not changing the fluid often enough and it becoming full of dirt and other contaminants, other times it's just excessive stress on the system causing the seals to blow out or wear prematurely. It really comes down to two things either the bearing is bad on the sector shaft cause it to have play and destroying seal or the seal is just old and dried out and is starting leak. In either case the fix is simple, even replacing the bearing is not big deal. Mine was just the seal so I got a gasket kit from Rock Auto that fixed mine up it was like $20. I've found this out after getting feed with swapping out leaking boxes every year or so. Just looked it up in my FSM and was surprised how simple it was to replace the seals on it, no rocket science needed. It think it was just one snap ring and pulling out some seals.
Disregard the stuff about the sector shaft nonsense I''m not sure where or why I got mixed up and thought your problem was there. :dunno: I see you found it anyway. The front cover seal is a real piece of cake to fix right?
 
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i think the 3 quarts of atf i puked out the front o-ring pretty much washed any trace of junk clean out of the system. i didn't pull the guts out of the gear, just the snap ring, end cap & o-ring. hopefully all it trashed was the o-ring & nothing more costly. i really was not planning on redoing the whole steering system on this rig.
 
I doubt that a leaky gasket on the steering box would warrant changing the whole steering system. :) It worked fine except for the leak right? You should be fine.

You could probably use some more bumpstop on the front, no? That tire looks a little too stuffed.
 
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