Spanner nut on power steering box

Hi all,

My power steering box was leaking on the worm shaft end of things. I assumed it was that little seal on the spline shaft. I went ahead and pulled the box because I couldn't get the roll pin driven out of the coupler, and when I got the box out, I discovered the spanner nut was loose by a lot. I don't think that happened in the course of removing the box, I am figuring if the nut was as tight as it should be, I would need a wrench to loosen it.

Anyway, would it be correct that if that nut was loose, it would cause the box to leak? I am assuming that's the case, but I figured I would run it by the experts.

Thanks.

Greg

It could be. The seal on that end is an o-ring on the housing head. It's possible that the movement of the head has eventually deteriorated the o-ring to the point that it's leaking. Here is an excellent video going through a power steering chuck.

Power Steering Chuck Training Video

This is of course assuming that this is the style of power steering chuck you have.

The bigger concern may be why the spanner lost preload to begin with.

Thanks, I found that video, and then another similar one that was a little newer (like 1974 or so).

That's a good point on why it came loose, I am not really sure. Maybe just 50 years of not having any attention paid to it...

Got to decide what I want to do: try to fix this one myself (which would basically consist of just trying to get it to not leak), go to a Borgeson or Firm Feel box, or maybe put a manual box on it.