Steering gear swap

[mfmagicmike]

Hi everyone!

I just got my reman steering gear box for my 89 Ford LTD. The old one is leaking oil just from about everywhere possible, so I thought it might be time for a change.
A few months ago, I bought a rebuild kit (with seals and all the necessary stuff), but I finally chickened out and bought a "new" one.

Before taking everything apart and installing the new one (which apparently isn't that difficult - not mentioning the heaviness of the gear box), I need You to update me on the "do's and dont's", to help me avoid making stupid mistakes or even ruining my panther (that happened the last time I went in head-on on my instrument panel assy).

Your help and comments would be appreciated!!

[88grandmarq]

only thing I can think of is you will need an impact gun to loosen the pitman arm nut
and a puller to seperate the pitman arm from the old gear box.

better yet... save yourself the puller and just replace the pitman arm AND the idler arm with new parts. both are common wear items.

[gadget73]

What he said, just replace the pitman and idler.

I'd also probably consider new power steering lines. Use Type F transmission fluid in the pump. Use line wrenches to pull the lines off, otherwise the fittings might round off.

[mfmagicmike]

Thanks, thatīs the kind of info I was looking for.

Any tricks to center the steering shaft and the pitman arm?

[gadget73]

Not really. The steering input shaft only fits on there one way, ditto with the pitman arm. Its got some flats to properly position things. One thing I should mention, that bolt has to be completely removed from the steering coupler, otherwise it won't come out. Don't ask me how I learned that. Its possible that the wheel won't be perfectly centered after the swap, but thats just manufacturing tolerances from box to box. Not much you can do about that short of tweaking the tie rod ends, or having a front end alignment done,.