GEN1 Steering Gearbox Rebuild

[chadzeilenga]

Hi All,
I'm almost done with the rebuild of my front suspension and steering components (Ball Joints, Bushings, Tie Rods, Idler Arm etc). I pulled the old pitman arm last night to replace and I was originally going to just replace the output shaft seal on my steering gearbox, but I see that it is possibly weeping at the top near the input.

Has anyone serviced the seals on a gearbox when it was installed or is it required to remove? Aside from the weepage, I don't really have any issues with the gearbox on my Montero and would rather avoid opening up a can of worms that I wasn't prepared for yet.

Also, I couldn't find any threads, but has anyone rebuilt one of these gearboxes? My main concern would be parts availability. My thought was to pick up a used one and rebuild it and then swap them.

What is the difference in the 1989 Pitman arm options. I ordered the <6/89 version as mine was an earlier build, but just curious what changed.

 

[JohnnyBfromPeoria]

I believe the year difference/change is in the diameter of the Pitman arm shaft. Gear box re-seal, not necessarily rebuild, kits are available through Rock Auto, if I'm not mistaken, but I can't offer any experience on tearing into one.

John B.

 

[Oso]

Hi All,
I'm almost done with the rebuild of my front suspension and steering components (Ball Joints, Bushings, Tie Rods, Idler Arm etc). I pulled the old pitman arm last night to replace and I was originally going to just replace the output shaft seal on my steering gearbox, but I see that it is possibly weeping at the top near the input.

Has anyone serviced the seals on a gearbox when it was installed or is it required to remove? Aside from the weepage, I don't really have any issues with the gearbox on my Montero and would rather avoid opening up a can of worms that I wasn't prepared for yet.

Also, I couldn't find any threads, but has anyone rebuilt one of these gearboxes? My main concern would be parts availability. My thought was to pick up a used one and rebuild it and then swap them.

What is the difference in the 1989 Pitman arm options. I ordered the <6/89 version as mine was an earlier build, but just curious what changed.

have you considered upgrading to a gen 2 steering box?

It's almost bolt-in easy - just elongate a mounting hole.

would also give you the stronger pitman and idlers as well as a tighter turning radius . junkyard price isn't expensive and parts will be easier to source for awhile.

 

[chadzeilenga]

Yea, I had looked into that earlier, but I didn’t want to create a suspension geometry problem to solve another I didn’t have yet.

I have all the steering and suspension maintenance caught up, so I will probably just look at rebuilding another GEN1 box at some point.

One strange thing is I replaced the pitman arm shaft seal and thought there was packing behind it, but it was just solid machined. The parts book shows packing?

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