Leak at bottom of steering box

[cudajim]

I have a major leak at the bottom of my power steering box. I've never replaced the seal and don't know how so I could use a few pointers (or maybe a video). I also need to know what seal to buy and where. The car is a 69 Fastback Barracuda with the original PS box.

 

[airgrabber]

You will have to pull the pitman arm. Unless you have a real garage hoist I would not attempt it on my back on ramps - pull the box and do it on a bench. There's two seals down there - a lightweight one to keep dirt out, and a serious one that's quite a ways in the bore. IIRC there's also a humongous e-clip/snap ring. You better have a REAL GOOD heavy duty snap ring pliers to remove it. You'll have to chisel and dig out the old seal - it has a serious steel outer shell. If it were me I'd change that seal, the input seal for the steering shaft, and the big o ring under the aluminum housing with the steering input shaft seal. I had a leak I thought was coming from the bottom seal, too - turned out to be that big o-ring. I had the box out twice because of that - be sure it's not dribbling down onto the pitman arm, like I first thought.
RockAuto has the seal...
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...steering,steering+gear+pitman+shaft+seal,7344

 

[RedFish]

In the service bay... We use a actual pitman arm puller. Most ball joint splitters ( pickle forks ) aren't wide enough and the forces applied can damage the gear setup inside.
Remove snap ring and dust cap. Start engine and steer to hard stop at either end. High fluid pressure will blow the seal out into a catch pan. Pile rags or similar in the pan or you'll have a mess of fluid to clean up.

 

[cudajim]

In the service bay... We use a actual pitman arm puller. Most ball joint splitters ( pickle forks ) aren't wide enough and the forces applied can damage the gear setup inside.
Remove snap ring and dust cap. Start engine and steer to hard stop at either end. High fluid pressure will blow the seal out into a catch pan. Pile rags or similar in the pan or you'll have a mess of fluid to clean up.

I do have a pitman arm puller so that's no problem. I was planning to pull the box but I think I'll try your trick first to get the old seal out without pulling the whole box. I do have snap ring pliers of various sizes too. Thanks for the tip.