Power steering question

[ptooner]

I have run down a long standing leak in my power steering that I have isolated to the bottom cover of the rebuilt steering box that I replaced a few years ago.  It appears to be leaking between the lower cover (the one held in place by 5 allen head bolts)  and the body of the gear box.  My question is can this cover be removed without removing the steering box.  It LOOKS like I can remove the pittman arm and then just remove those 5 bolts to drop the cover.  I'm assuming at that point I can replace the gasket or o ring or whatever is supposed to seal that area.  Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks
Gerry

[Dave H]

The cover does come off ..the shaft stays in place.
The shaft is held in the box by the adjusting nut on the other end.
As you say, get a steering box gasket kit , you will have to change
The 2 "o"rings on the cover plus the blue lip seal which will get damaged
As it goes over the splines.
I've only done it on a bench but you will be doing it upside down so
Expect the spring in the picture to fall out !

[garymand]

Nice pic Dave,  I just noticed a drip from the hole in the bottom cover and now I can see where its coming from. 

[Harry]

Dave - thanks for your pictures.  I am in the process of rebuilding the PS Box on my 1966 230SL and the photos are helpful.  Did you ever write up or find any disassembly instructions?  I found those for the manual box, which is helpful, but not the power box.  Do you have a seal kit number/supplier that you can share?  I can't remove the input unit because the valve assembly seems to be interfering.  Looks like the valve assembly needs to be removed first but I'm not certain how to do that.
Thanks,
Harry

[jameshoward]

Have you done a search on the site? About 8-10 months ago someone posted a link to a website where the mechanic fully documented a same era PS box tear down and rebuild. It's incredibly thorough; runs to about 20 pages, and may help.

[Harry]

I have done a search through all pages that identified under "power steering box".  I found one lengthy article by Perty" (as I recall) that was actually about 80+ pages and very well done.  The problem is that it pertained to a manual unit.  Dave's photo of the disassembled box is clearly the power unit - so he obviously did this work and hopefully would be a good reference for me.  Thanks you though for speaking up and offering some assistance!
Harry