Power Steering Box Problem After Rebuild
 

Hello everyone,

I'm in the final stages of doing a front end swap on my 1968 GMC C2500 (4 drums, manual steering, manual brakes). I found a 71 C20 frame on craigslist that had the power steering box and picked it up a couple months ago.

I rebuilt the box myself because nobody around here rebuilds them these days and I figured that I can do it myself. I didn't think it was all that hard and I followed TX Firefighter's and the pirate4x4 instructions very closely and I didn't have any issues. I'm fairly new to these trucks, but am pretty mechanically inclined and at least know when things aren't going the way they're supposed to be. Once the box was installed, it turned knock to knock really smoothly without the engine running.

With that said, I started my engine for the first time today since the swap and had the PS pump/hoses/box hooked up. I filled the pump before turning the engine on and, once started, I tried to turn the steering wheel. It had a little resistance, so I gave it a tug and it popped and now has a 1/2 turn of play. I continued to burp the system thinking maybe I just needed to turn the adjusting screw in. I haven't done that yet, but I crawled under the truck and found that there's a small leak coming from where the rag joint hooks up to the box (I think it's called the input shaft). As of right now, it doesn't feel like it has power steering, so I'm thinking there's a problem with the box. It still turns knock to knock smoothly, but definitely doesn't feel like it has power steering.

Do I have anything to be concerned about? Should I just adjust it and see if the leak persists? Had anyone experienced this before? I'm hesitant to proceed forward without some guidance because I don't want to mess anything up (more than I already have).

Re: Power Steering Box Problem After Rebuild
 

Did you bleed the system with the front wheels off the ground by turning lock to lock before doing it with the wheels on the ground? I was taught to not have loaded resistance on the wheels until all the air is purged as it potentially could damage parts.

Re: Power Steering Box Problem After Rebuild
 

I didn't have it jacked up for the initial bleed. I've never done that before when bleeding a PS system, but I read it in the book after the fact :( I was hoping that wouldn't be the source of the problem

Re: Power Steering Box Problem After Rebuild
 

Almost certainly you didn't get one of the pins aligned on the spool valve. With the lock nut in place there should only be a couple threads of the adjuster plug showing. I bet if you looked behind your rag joint you're going to be looking at 4-5 threads showing.