[Idahood]

I had a puddle of power steering fluid forming under my steering gear on the driveway. After cleaning the gear and surrounding area I could see that the fluid was coming out from under the steering input shaft cover and running down the gear. Having read the posts about removing the steering gear and what a PITA that is I decided to see if I could change the input shaft seal without removing the gear. O'Reilly Auto Parts show a steering gear input shaft seal kit. The part number is 8777.

First remove both postive and negative battery cables from the battery and push them forward toward the core support to give yourself a cleaner path to the steering gear.

Remove the fuse box bolted to the firewall directly above the steering shaft and set it on top of the engine.

Remove the 4 small hex screws holding the top of the steering shaft cover on to the firewall and push the cover down to expose the top steering shaft joint.

Remove the 12mm bolt holding the top of the steering shaft to the steering wheel shaft at the firewall.

Remove the bottom of the steering shaft cover by prying the wire retaining ring apart and slipping it up over the top of the steering gear. If your van has a body lift you can access this easier through the wheel well and between the frame and inner fender.

Remove bolt holding the bottom of the steering shaft to the steering gear input shaft same size as bolt at top of steering shaft.

Pry or pull the shaft off at the top and the bottom. to expose the top of the steering gear.

Now you need to remove the retaining ring with the three notches in it. I used a large flat blade screw driver and tapped it with a hammer counter clockwise to loosen the ring. Mine came loose fairly easily probably because it was lubricated by the leaking fluid.

Next you need to remove the threaded puck I call the seal retainer that has the two holes in it. I'm sure Kent Moore makes a special tool/spanner to remove this piece but not having access to GM shop tools I improvised with this:

the socket is about 21mm and inserted with an old phillips screw driver:

A few easy taps on the extensions with a hammer and the retainer puck was loose and easily spun out by hand.

I used a small ice pick to remove the seal, here is a picture of the pick, the old seal and the new seal.

I found one of my sockets that matched the diameter of the new seal to seat it in place. The repair kit also included and O-ring that fit underneath the retainer puck so I installed it under there.
I put everything back together in reverse order, topped off the power steering fluid and was done in about 1 1/2 hours. No leaks or issues in the month since I did the repair.

 

[4Zsnow]

nice job!! :bow:

 

[paulo57509]

Did you count how many turns it took to remove the "retainer puck" so you could return it in the same place during re-assembly? That puck also serves as a preload adjustment for the steering gear

 

[Idahood]

Paulo,
I counted rotations and put the two holes back to the same "clocking" as they were before removing it.

 

[ceedj]

Hi gang! Just wanted to post some notes, as I just finished this job. Took me a few hours, but a lot of that was getting the old stuff off/out.

- The 8777 part number matches the same number at Advance Auto Parts; luckily they had one in stock. This also matches the part at RockAuto, though the shipping is ridiculous, so order it with other stuff to ease the pain.
- For my 2000 AWD, the boot bolts were 7mm, and the steering shaft bolts were probably 12mm, but that one is missing from my set, so a 7/16 fit really good.
- I didn't need to disconnect the battery, as the cables were not in my way. The fuse box bolts were 10mm, and you'll probably need to remove one of the big blocks and the two 40 amp fuses near the firewall to access the bolts.
- You may need to pull the wire harness from the firewall to get at the top two boot bolts.
- When removing/replacing the bottom shaft bolt, I found it easier to come from the back with an extension, as I had more swing room, not banging into the ABS box and master cylinder.
- The orientation of the retainer ring was such that I couldn't get at it real well from the top. But I came upon the idea of removing the driver turn signal frame, which gave me a near perfect line to put the extensions in and pound away at it. A little PB Blaster was needed to help break it loose.
- The "puck" took exactly 6 turns to remove, and 6 to put back on. Like the OP, I made sure the holes lined up where they were before.
- The old seal was a giant PITA to get out; I wound up heating up an old spring to melt a bit of the inner edge, then used a long drywall screw to help pry it out.
- My 22MM deep well socket was a perfect fit for putting the new one in, though I needed to do a little pounding on one side to get it sunk enough to match all the way around. I also cleaned out the gunk from around the edge where the new O ring goes in, and it all fit together well.

No leaks anymore, steering is nice and tight now, and the brakes respond better because it's all connected with the Hyrdoboost. Easy enough to do, hardest part was getting the old parts off.

Thanks Idahood for a great write up and pictures!

 

[TurnNburn]

I need to do this! Thanks in advance for the helpful advice.

 

[Mmusicman]

I just did my input shaft seal on my 92 at the beginning of the year (while I was re-doing my V8). It was quite easy to do... NO MORE LEAK! You only need the input shaft seal kit and not the entire gearbox rebuild kit.

Note: the "puck" needs to be returned to essentially the same position. There is a procedure for setting these (pre-load)... and you do not want to over-tighten. Just note it's position before you pull it, and return it to the same and you'll be fine. The seal replacement itself it very simple and straightforward.

 

[ceedj]

One more thing, I had the lower shaft a bit too close to the top of the box, just backed it off a bit and steering is much better (felt a bit too tight yesterday). So leave 1/16 or so gap between the shaft and box and you should be golden.

 

[Blueyed]

Hey everyone just did the same replacement on my 2005 astro van! Thanks for the guide and all the pictures. For me the hardest part was getting of the retaining ring since it developed some rust around the edges. I started using the flat head with extension and hammer, then jacked up the car and tried with the big flat head that comes with the car jack. As soon as I noticed that I'm just damaging the retaining ring but not actually moving it I stopped.

So in the end I got it loose by placing a big plumbing wrench (one that bites) around the ring. One ends goes into a notch the other end just bites on the site. I could place it so that I could hammer at it through the wheel well at the driver side. That worked after a couple of good hits. Everything else went smooth and without problems. Can highly recommend the ice pick to get the old seal out - took me about 5 seconds. Thanks again for all the input!

 

[TurnNburn]

So I finally got around to doing this since I had to take my steering shaft off anyways to put my "new" "extended" steering shaft for my 3 inch pucks(that's for a different thread) and all went pretty well thanks to these posts. My seal had been leaking since I have owned the van and didn't know that seal was replaceable until I found this post. Thanks for the due diligence and pictures.

On a side note. My replacement seal kit did come with that o-ring as well but when I pulled mine apart there was not an old seal there. I thought it was weird but since it was stated that it went there I put it where it belonged. Did others notice that as well?

 

[wingnutchance]

i replaced the seal and no more leak. but i now have a LOT of wiggle room with the steering wheel and also now hearing a squeal when i fully turn. its now worse but no leak. halp!

 

[Hangar18]

Awesome thread...input seal leaking on my 04 Astro awd...about to do front lift and shaft extension and was concerned and somewhat dreading this but this explains shows and teaches a lot.....perfect info...back to my wrenches :thumbup:

 

[Mwood]

great thread. need to do this to my '00 soon.
thanks everybody.