BJ8 Steering gearbox Seal

[DGHall915]

My Steering gear box is leaking at the seal located at the bottom where the Steering lever attaches to the shaft. Is it possible to remove and replace the Oil Seal (part # 14 in Fig K 4 in the book, and the Dust excluder WITHOUT removing the gear box from the car?

 

[NIB]

Its possible, just be careful not to scratch the shaft. Install two seals on top of eachother to be safe.
I would first try to replace the oil with a product like https://www.penriteoil.com.au/products/vintage,-veteran-&-classic-oils/steering_box_lubricant
You cant besure its oiltight even after having replaced the seal.

 

[BoyRacer]

Sorry to disagree NIB, but it's not possible. You can get the nut off the shaft but the pitman arm is only a few inches directly above the front lower A arm. There is no way you could get a puller in there to remove the pitman arm. The arm is on there super tight and it takes a big puller to get things apart. Your average pitman arm puller does not have an opening wide enough for the ears on the Healey pitman arm. I just did it a couple of weeks ago so the puller issue is fresh in my mind. You might even consider using some heat on the arm and rapping it with a hammer. This WILL put a strain on your puller so you had better have a good quality one.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I've done it. It's a tight fit, and I had to grind the end of the Pittman arm puller to get it to get a grip on the arm--yes, I had to open up the end--but the arm came off. A lot of penetrating oil and some heat on the arm doesn't hurt. I've done it on my BJ8, and IIRC we did on our BN2 as well. I modified a cheap HF tool like this:

https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=pittman+arm+puller

I used a screwdriver with a bent tip to pull the old seal out, and two or three small dia. steel rods with the ends ground flat as drifts to tap the new seal in (you need at least two to keep the seal from getting cocked as you tap it in).

 

[NIB]

Randy Forbes has some pictures showing how to do it in car, but he´s a bit of a specialist, with special tools, so it might be easier just to remove the unit.

https://www.spcarsplus.com/gallery3/index.php/reMKIII?page=66

 

[Bob_Spidell]

While it's great to have exactly the right tools or equipment to do a job it can be very satisfying to improvise and do a proper job as well.

Here is the modified Pitman arm puller and custom-made drifts I use to remove the arm and install new seals:

The puller just barely fits, but it fits. These cheap pullers all have the same problem: the steel 'bolts' tear the threads out of the cast aluminum brackets. It helps to grease the threads on the bolt.

I can't find the modified screwdriver I used to extract the old seal. It was just a long, thin-bladed slotted screwdriver that had its tip bent 90deg. There are specialty seal pullers that would probably work as well.

 

[BoyRacer]

I was wrong! I looked at the suspension on one of my Healeys, that was fully loaded, when I made my last post. I see from Randy's photos that by jacking up the car, the A arms drop down enough to get a modified puller into position.

 

[BoyRacer]

Nope! I was right. I jacked up one of my Healeys and with the A arms at full droop, there is only about 2 1/2 inches between the bottom of the shaft and the A arm. I don't think there is any pitman arm puller, or any other kind of puller, that can fit into that tight of space.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

All I can say is I have done it.

 

[dougsmarkIII]

I replaced that oil seal and the dust seal without removing the steering box also. Don't remember the details, but the steering box was not removed.

Doug