Landcruiser 80 Series Steering Box leak

**DrNick** · 28-11-2010, 03:03 AM

Couldn't get very far with the search as it excludes the word "box" from searches

I noticed a fair bit of PS oil under my car the other day so I degreased it and had a better look, the leak is visible when I look through the drivers side wheel arch and is all around the steering box. The lines to it are fine and the oil seems to be starting off on the input shaft to this box.

It was a bit strange today though because after some offroading I saw PS oil had sprayed up into the wheel arch so I don't know how it got up there, but its still mostly in the area that I first suspected.

I see a few seal kits available ($75 on ebay for the whole lot) so am curious if anyone has attempted this repair on here? The service manual makes it sound a bit complicated as they mention several SSTs so I don't know what to expect when I get in there.

Googling just found me a few forum posts where people say a leaking input shaft is common and thats it. I'd be keen to hear from anyone who has rebuilt one of these or any pointers to resources or threads on the topic before I pull it out.

This is the part I am referring to in case theres any confusion about naming

Many thanks!

**Hendo** · 28-11-2010, 02:36 PM

Yeah i'm keen to know too, my dad's 100 series is leaking aswell

**briney** · 29-11-2010, 09:21 AM

it's quite often just the seal on the input shaft which leaks. they're $10-ish from a bearing place. the housing the seal is in just screws out. you have to redo the preload settings on the box when you're done but it's not hard. is your power steer pump ok ? the diesel ones leak a bit too.

**cambelt** · 29-11-2010, 10:45 PM

Brinny not on a 80 or 100 unfortunatly , The last cruiser to use the nut and washer ajusted pinion ( and easy seal to replace ) was 1989 .
You have to strip the box down and its not a easy job to just the input seal . Also mud gets into the seal and wears a groove in the pinion shaft so sometimes a lovely new genuine seal doesnt work .
Dave

**DrNick** · 29-11-2010, 11:20 PM

Darn, you got my hopes up too

In the service manual they remove the sector shaft and the 44 ball bearings before getting to that input shaft seal so I was kinda hoping there would be an easier way.
Do you think its worth getting the $75 seal kit or do you reckon I'll be able to get that input shaft seal separately if I ring around? Just trying to find the most cost effective way here because my other money pit car has pretty much bankrupted me !

**briney** · 30-11-2010, 11:02 AM

bugger. most of my experience has been with 75 ser. sorry to get your hopes up.

**DrNick** · 06-12-2010, 04:46 AM

Well this is going ...er... well

Decided to take the box out on friday. I cracked all the bolts and fittings loose with no issues, then I moved onto the pitman arm. The bit 32mm nut holding the arm onto the sector shaft was both tight and upside down so i thought hey why not make life easy on myself and take off the other end instead, which was the one connected to the tie rod end.

Undid the castle nut with a spanner, though to myself :"wow things are going really smoothly" and jinxed myself by saying that.

I could not pop the ball joint stud out , I tried my little 2 jaw puller and it started to bend so i thought I wouldn't bother with it any more. I tried persuading it with a 2lb hammer, still nothing. Eventually I tried a pickle fork separator (which I hate), and belted it to death and only succeeded in completely ruining the boot on the balljoint which is another issue for me to deal with later.
Then I went out and got a beefy ball joint separator tool. I locked that on and wound it up until it just broke.

So far the score is Landcruiser 1 : Nik 0

I put it back together again now so I can drive it and I shall take it to my mates shop this week and use his tools on it. I'll laugh if it breaks his stuff too

Does anyone here know if the ball joint boot is available separately so I can fix what the pickle fork did?

**briney** · 06-12-2010, 08:26 AM

yes, you can buy the boots separately. your average parts place will have them. did you try 2 hammers ? one behind, and one hitting the pitman arm ?

**DrNick** · 06-12-2010, 12:33 PM

Nah didn't use the two hammers approach, was a bit cautious about damaging the steering gear while its still connected to the pitman arm. I really thought the 2 different balljoint separators would make short work of it

Will see how I go in round 2.

**tojo** · 10-12-2010, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by DrNick

Well this is going ...er... well

I shall take it to my mates shop this week and use his tools on it. I'll laugh if it breaks his stuff too

?

In the meantime, suggest you spray it with some penetrating oil every now and then.

Gives you a better chance of succsess.

**DrNick** · 10-12-2010, 07:16 PM

Good suggestion

I'll give it a couple of blasts.

Decided to leave this intact for another week until after my guests leave because I really need the 4wd now.

In a related note, I completely destroyed the boot on the balljoint with the pickle fork. Does anyone know how I can get a replacement? Toyota catalogue doesnt seem to have a listing.

On ebay I see them for 60/70/75 series so I guess theres 80 series somewhere around?