Re: '56 Patrician Bendix Steering Ram

Posted by John Payne On 2012/10/3 0:18:37

Well, it's taken me awhile to get around to this job but this week I put a new seal kit in my spare ram and changed it over with the leaky one yesterday. The main isssue I encountered with removing the old seal set was the outer seal - it pretty much refused to budge, although with a fair bit of persuasion it finally left home in a damaged state. Fortunately, no obvious damage sustained by the shaft. Using Brian's technique, I applied some compressed air to the cylinder and the inner seal and washer came out easily. I tried to follow the SC guidelines when installing the new seal kit, but I have to admit I'm not confident about whether the outer seal is in the correct way around (I found it difficult to translate the instruction about inner lip). Essentially, I have the "spring" part of the inner section of the seal pointing inwards as there is bugger all outer lip the other way around to aid removal some time later. I also followed Ross's advice about cutting a couple of reinforced sheet rubber mounts to insulate it from the frame (I only had 1/4" but it seems quite snug). I propose to get a new seal kit from Max Merritt to reseal the now spare ram and have it ready on the shelf. If it turns out that I have inserted the outer seal back to front and it eventually starts to leak, I'll do a changeover. The system was bled but the car hasn't been driven anywhere yet. Fingers crossed, no leaks apparent so far. John