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240 CAM steering rack leak and play at pinion shaft

cathoderayfish

cathoderayfish

Active member
Joined
Jan 8, 2025
Location
VA <--> NFLD
Hello, I have been having a small but notable power steering leak in my '86 240 for quite a while now, but it has been slowly getting worse and I figure it is about time to fix it.
I identified for sure that the leak is coming from where the steering shaft enters the rack: cleaned the area around the leak and found it leaking from the pinion seal; the shaft also has a bit of play in it and that seems cause the leak: if I invoke the play in the input shaft, I can visibly see some steering fluid leaking around the seal.

So my questions are:
-Is a slight amount of lateral play in the shaft expected at the pinion shaft input to the rack?
-Could this leak be fixed with simply a new seal, or is there some other component causing the play that also needs to be replaced?
-Could this fix be done with the rack installed in the car or would it need to be removed?
I found this that IPD sells which looks like it may work, anybody have experience with this kit and can speak to the ease of install and quality of it? (I would not be rebuilding the whole rack, just using what I need probabaly)

Here are some pictures I attempted to take of the leaky seal:
https://imgur.com/a/dwpgCuh

the part number on the seal is: 34002507.
 
I just tried this and did not succeed. I am not entirely sure why I failed. I followed the green book instructions as much as they applied.

Is this the TRW/CAM rack that looks like this?

https://imgur.com/a/AkCExGW

If so, I will mail you this seal if I can get it out. No charge.

That IPD kit is for a different rack that's actually in the green books. I never could locate instructions that specifically dealt with this rack so I improvised some (and probably screwed up, lol)
 
I think a little play is to be expected. And if it's leaking there you need the Teflon (or whatever they are) seals on the spool valve.
 
Meatball said:
I just tried this and did not succeed. I am not entirely sure why I failed. I followed the green book instructions as much as they applied.

Is this the TRW/CAM rack that looks like this?

https://imgur.com/a/AkCExGW

If so, I will mail you this seal if I can get it out. No charge.

That IPD kit is for a different rack that's actually in the green books. I never could locate instructions that specifically dealt with this rack so I improvised some (and probably screwed up, lol)
Click to expand...
You had this exact leak and failed to fix it or just generally had issues after rebuild?
I will check when I get home to see if the rack I have matches yours exactly and let you know
 
cathoderayfish said:
You had this exact leak and failed to fix it or just generally had issues after rebuild?
I will check when I get home to see if the rack I have matches yours exactly and let you know
Click to expand...

My rack was leaking out of the RHS before I worked on it and then out the LHS when I got done.

It is entirely possible that the seals are the wrong size in that kit. But the seal you need (or indicated) is actually sealing on my rack. Let me try to get it off and if I can without damaging it, I will send you a DM.
 
Cwazywazy said:
I think a little play is to be expected. And if it's leaking there you need the Teflon (or whatever they are) seals on the spool valve.
Click to expand...

That kit from IPD only had one Teflon seal that would fit the rack I tried to repair and it was the wrong size. I'm pretty sure it was for the transverse plug. The one that does all of the steering. Probably the one I needed to succeed but it was large enough to go onto the plug with the original Teflon seal still installed.
 
cathoderayfish said:
So leaking thru this seal implies that something is leaking internally,? Any idea where to source the seals you mentioned?
Click to expand...

I got the seal out. But like cwazywazy was saying, the spool valve set probably needs to be replaced.

I have to be honest, knowing now that the documentation for this particular rack is not in the standard literature would have steered me away from trying in the first place.

But what I would do if you insist is try to find the TRW documentation and the TRW part number and source the kit that way.

FYI, FCP has a rack for 400+tax shipped if you have the same one.

You need to be very careful if you do decide to replace and not repair.

The tube sizes can be different, the input shaft size can be different and thereay be other things to look out for.

Measure twice, cut once applies here for sure
 
Meatball said:
My rack was leaking out of the RHS before I worked on it and then out the LHS when I got done.

It is entirely possible that the seals are the wrong size in that kit. But the seal you need (or indicated) is actually sealing on my rack. Let me try to get it off and if I can without damaging it, I will send you a DM.
Click to expand...
Ah, OK. Well if you don't mind sending it that would be great, even if it is the spool valve, it can't hurt to replace this one.
 
If you want me to send you the valve and I can do that too. It even has new boots and tie rods that I can send. I really don't need to hoarde parts anyway right now.

Maybe my spool valve and your plug seal can give you something that you can use.

Let me know.
 
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