Steering Overhaul – Part 1 Disassembly

My wife says I look like a little old man driving the Barracuda. The comment stems from the fact that when driving the car it takes a lot of steering action just to keep the car going in a straight line. There I am sitting in the low seat with a big old steering wheel sawing it back and forth cruising down the road. Yeah, it reminds me of grandpop.

Obviously, the steering box needs a rebuild or replacement. Since the steering system has a couple of other problems like big leaks and a bad looking steering coupler, I decided to overhaul the entire steering system from steering wheel to power steering pump.

I started the project by removing the old power steering hoses. They both were in poor condition so they went right in the trash. Next, the power steer pump was removed. I do not think it is the original. The first clue was that it did not have a cap on the reservoir. The reservoir was simply covered with what looked like the packing plug from a new pump. The second clue was that the pump did not quite match the diagrams of the possible originals in some documentation I found. The pump is also blue. I thought they were black.
Next, I attacked the steering column. I surprised at how easy it was to remove it.  First, I removed the clamp that connected the column to the steering box. Next I removed 3 bolts holding the column to the fire wall. Then I removed the U-bracket that holds the column to the bottom of the dash and unplugged the electrical connector. A few wiggles and a swift yank and the column was out.

Removing the steering box was a little more difficult. The first problem I encounter was that I did not have a big enough socket to remove the nut holding the pitman arm to the steering box. I had to purchase a 1-5/16” Proto socket to add to my collection. Then once the nut was off, I did not have a big enough gear puller to separate the pitman arm from the steering gearbox. I ended up buying a Craftsman Gear Puller. That did the job. After that only 3 bolts held the steering gearbox to the frame. Although they were a little difficult to reach, I eventually removed them and out came the box.


Now the work begins. I have lots of dirty, rusty, greasy parts to clean. I will replace or rebuild all parts of the steering system. Any bets on what parts are available?