Sean,
Make darned sure that snap ring is well seated. More than a few of those
seals have blown out because of inadequate seating. Including mine. I
rebuilt (replaced all the seals in) my steering box shortly before
departing for the West Coast in 2013. On Vancouver Island, the seal blew
out. I wound up driving about 80 miles with no power steering to reach
Sully's place in Seattle. He sent me to Red Head Steering Rebuilders (or
some such), where I had the box rebuilt. The whole problem was undoubtedly
due to my being insufficiently careful about the snap ring.
Ken H.
> Today, Scott, Vonda and I were successful in replacing the top seal on
> the gearbox, thank you everyone who posted. The most challenging part of
> the
> job was removing the snapring. The seal sits below a dust cover, and the
> snapring Sits above both...The rubber dust cover was swollen and brittle, it
> prevented the snapring pliers from working, some of the dust cover had to
> be picked away to alleviate pressure on the snapring allowing a hook pick
> under the ring and pulled out, the kit comes with a new one anyway. Once
> removed its a 10 minute job, used a pick to pull out seal. Pushed new seal
> in with a 6" piece of 1" electrical pvc conduit...made for a perfect seal
> driver. Dust cover, and new snap ring from the kit...large Orin's was not
> needed, since we did not remove the tension adjuster. Previously Scott
> and Vonda ensured the windshield wiper filter was clear. Refilled...took a
> whole quart, and Vonda and her girls are one step closer to camping.
>
>
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/data/500/medium/IMG_2055.JPG
>
> --
>
