I DID IT ! - Power steering control valve removal idea

[studefan]

Gang, I have been messing with the power steering control valve in my 64 lark forever trying to figure out how to rebuild it and replace the hoses while still in the car. I am so fed up with this system.

I reviewed SBCa96s excellent notes and pictures. He removed the whole assembly from the car including the pitman arm for rebuild. I just don't have the tools, time etc to remove the whole works.

As I looked at one of his pictures which I have included here, I wonder why I can't just take out the two screws in the middle of the control valve and separate the two pieces that are shown in the picture. The rear piece to be removed would still have all the hoses attached. I could put in the rebuild kit and put on new hoses then bolt it back onto the control valve half that's still in the car. My hoses aren't around the pitman arm so it should slide off the threaded rod. Right?

Has anyone done this before? What am I missing? Will it work?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Jeff


I REMOVED IT AND WILL LOAD PICS IN A MINUTE -------

[studefan]

Here are some pictures of the removal. It was fairly easy and didn't time very long at all.

All I need to do is disconnect the two lines at the pump and it will be on the bench ready to rebuild.

There are a couple of seals on the front of this unit that are not part of the typical SI rebuild kit. Any idea where I can buy these other seals?

One more picture is coming.

[studefan]

Here is the last picture showing what's still on the car.

[sbca96]

I considered doing that, but decided to pull it all, I wanted to replace
the seal betweenthe valve and the arm also. I really can not think of
a reason you can not do it that way. Reassembly might be harder??

Let us know how it turns out.

Tom

[StudeRich]

The big issue with rebuilding these has always been putting those two tiny seals in without cutting their sharp outer edges and ruining them. They do need to be compressed with a round sleeve to do that.

[Rerun]

The big issue with rebuilding these has always been putting those two tiny seals in without cutting their sharp outer edges and ruining them. They do need to be compressed with a round sleeve to do that.

And Ali Baba charges $19 for a pair of those little seals. The first seal and spacer go in easily. It's the second that is a real challenge, particularly lying under the car. After wrecking one seal , I rolled a sleeve from .003 plastic shim stock, super-glued to make a cylinder of the spool diameter. Slipping it over the second (well lubricated) seal compressed the lip enough to slide the spool the rest of the way in without wrecking the lip of the seal. This is basically like using a piston ring compressor to compress the rings while sliding the piston into the bore.

Jeff is definitely on the right track. Removing the whole unit including the pitman arm is very difficult with the motor in the car. Taking the valve apart on the car is a little difficult, but certainly can be done. BTDT. Having the car on a lift would help, but most of us don't enjoy that luxury.

What some genius needs to sell/rent is a kit that includes the appropriate sizes of crow's foot tubing wrenches necessary to remove and install the blasted hoses to the valve body!

[Skip Lackie]

In answer to your original question, yes you can do it that way. I've done three cars that way. It's a bit uncomfortable and messy, but do-able. As Rich and Jim have noted, there's really only one place to screw up -- the two seals must be installed without damage (and facing the right direction!). And keep everything really clean. My only additional suggestion would be to have a small dowell handy on which to store the parts as they come out. Their proper orientation is very important. The parts book has a pretty good picture of an exploded control valve for guidance.

[Bud]

I did the valve on my 62 Hawk by partially disassembling the valve in the way you described. I had to do the seal replacement that way because the inner seal broke when I tried to remove it and I had to go through the front of the valve to remove the remaining parts of the old seal. Just be careful to keep everything clean and be sure to replace the internal parts the same way they were removed as a couple of parts can be accidentally reversed which will either cause a leak or the valve won't work properly. Bud

[sbca96]

Yah, its a real shame that all my hard work putting together a step by step
rebuild of the power steering system got left in shambles. I have tried for
some time to get these moved to their own safe area on the forum, but it
seems its not important enough to warrant the work. There is a lot of lost
info on this forum, its really a shame.

The complete thread I did for the power steering pump is also ruined.

Tom

[Rerun]

Didn't some or all of this information get copied over to Bob Johnstone's site? I have found that site to be the best place for technical and parts info.

[sbca96]

Yes, some of it. He linked some of the info, so when the board lost it - he lost it.
He did copy some also, but currently I can not get to either, I sent him an email
last night to see if he might have saved the text. I found one of them, I think it
was the power steering pump thread. I thought the Mod would have noticed this
happening, but I guess I need to send him a message. I checked the TKO thread
and its still intact.

Tom