SO I have a power steering leak on my '70 Dart Custom. It's got the 225. In reading my Hayne's repair manual, it seems to give me three options for potentially fixing it.

First off let me say that the leak is coming from the bottom of the Steering gear. Where exactly, I don't know yet, but I can find that out. I think right where the gear meets the pitman arm.

Anyway, it seems my three potential fixes are this:

1. Replace the 'sector shaft oil seal'
2. Do a 'Valve Body Overhaul'
3. Replace the whole thing.

Can anyone point me in the right direction with that? I figure I should try them in the order I listed them. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

-KC

We really need to get you out of that Haynes manual before you hurt yourself, your wallet and/or your car. Please get a factory service manual at your soonest opportunity. The quality and quantity of information is far, far better.
A valve body overhaul is generally not the solution to a leak from the bottom of the P/S gearbox. The sector shaft oil seal is pretty much the only potential leak point at the bottom area of the box.

Are you committed to keeping P/S? I generally find it considerably more hassle than it's worth, and fix it by replacing with nonpower steering!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Seconded. I wince every time someone brings up a "Haynes manual" here. Still, if you know their limitations and know not to believe everything you read in one, they are better than nothing (but not by much).

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

holy smokes! total agreement!
the running joke at an independent shop i worked at years ago involved haynes manuals. we COULD use them to diagnose almost anything. quite often when a car came in on the hook, a "new" haynes manual could be found in the back seat. opening to the most dirty, dog-eared page would usuall indicate what the customer had "fixed."

as for power steering, if it's working properly i'd leave it alone. on the other hand if it were giving trouble i'd ditch it in favour of a properly setup manual box. many more parts and seals to fail in the power system, then there is the performance issue. power loss and excess weight are two more great reasons to go manual.

-james

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I went manual on my 70. Man, what a difference. I must have ditched 70lbs or more off the front end, and the effort isn't bad at all, better then the overpower assist.

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70 Dart, 360, 727

Years ago the PS box sector shaft seal went bad on my '75 Coronet - the '75 Dodge manual said you could use the special tool (sort of a huge hollow easyout), but also said you could just blow the seal out by removing the retainers, adding fluid, and running the engine and turning the wheel to the stops to build up pressure.

It worked like a champ! (Be sure to have a pan to catch the fluid!) My Chiltons didn't list that trick, but the factory manual sure did.