- Joined
- Oct 30, 2019
- Messages
- 225
Hi all,
I am working on another mid-90s Ford Ranger at home. This one has a power steering rack leaking out the driver's side (and thinning/washing out the grease in the rack+pinion), meaning a failing seal that separates the hydraulic side of the rack from the mechanical side of the rack.
Unfortunately this seal is buried right in the middle of the housing (approximately 12 inches from each end) , so it is not easy to grab with a pick, pliers, chisel, or anything else. Further, it is installed against the shoulder formed by a reduction in diameter. This shoulder is large enough that only the inner lip of the seal is "visible" from the rear, nothing substantial to grab for removal.
I don't have any extra-extra-long picks, so I made one. Using a ~20" long piece of 1/2" round aluminum stock, and a small piece of spring steel from an old windshield wiper, I made this:
and tried the spring steel in two positions; the one shown above as well as 90 degrees - more like a knife where it could bite into the rubber.
This did not work, because the meatier part of the seal was protected by the reduced diameter/shoulder behind it. All this improvised pick was doing was tearing up the inner lip of the seal. No matter how many times I tried, I could not get the pokey bit of the pick to get purchase between the seal and the shoulder, it was just too tight. I also was concerned that the seal might be metal-sleeved, in which case it would have more holding force than I could overcome with this solution.
I was thinking about how professional rebuilders might remove this seal, and was picturing some kind of tool that could expand inside the seal and grab it. Hydraulic, pneumatic, or screw-driven mechanisms would be too involved to throw together in the home shop for this one-time use, and may not even be workable for me since I didn't have the exact dimensions of what I was facing.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the full fabrication process since I was making this up as I went, but here was the idea, with some pictures below:
- The head of the tool should have 3 teeth that can cam outwards and bite the metal
- They would need to have an outer diameter under 31mm when folded down
- and an outer diameter ideally around (or over) the outside diameter of the seal when biting and extending outwards
- They need to move easily enough that tickling the rubber with them lets them start to get purchase so they want to bite in further
I did not lay out the shape of the teeth with the min/max OD in mind, and kinda winged it.
Manufacture consisted of (shown below, where I had pictures)
1) Find a ~1" piece of steel in the scrap bin
1.5) Find some metal for the teeth - found a little 3x3 piece of 1/8" plate
2) Cut a groove for the teeth, roughly 1/8" wide
3) Drill holes for roll pins as pivots for the teeth
4) Drill and tap the back of this "head" for 3/8-16 so that it can be attached to a handle
5) If this all looks promising, add a T-handle at the end for power and control
First I cut the groove on the lathe. In the picture below the slot is concealed just inside the collet.
The jaw layout wasn't perfect, I did this vertically in the drill press using a 6-sided collet block, and didn't put enough care into maintaining the same position in the vise. They are roughly 120 degrees apart...
With 3/4" long, 3/32 roll pins installed, I put in the first set of jaws (they ended up being a bit too short). To make the jaws I cut the 1/8" plate into pieces on the bandsaw; drilled a hole for the pivot off-center at the end; and rounded off that corner with a file so that it could fold down without hitting the back of the groove.
Fortunately I did think to under-drill the holes for the roll pins and/or not over-drive them so that they could be removed - since I did need to remove the jaws for tweaking and putting in a longer set later on.
With the longer jaws, this was looking promising. The jaws do engage once I tickle the ID of the seal with them, and they do want to bite in more. I realized that turning the end with a pipe wrench won't give me the control I want (modulated twisting; and pulling at the same time), so I added a T-handle to the back.
I drilled a 5/8 hole in a piece of angle iron to act as a handle, and welded it to the end of the steel shaft. With a few attempts, and finally remembering to try pulling as I rotate (after getting purchase) -- the seal did come out.
Hopefully I can get the right seal kit and clean up the inside of the rack well enough for a successful rebuild from here. I doubt I'll need this tool again, but it can't hurt to unscrew the business end and keep it around; the round stock and angle iron can get reused for something if needed.
If anyone knows what the right tool is for the job, or what professional rebuilders use for removing such seals installed against a shoulder (effectively a blind hole in terms of getting useful purchase on the seal for removal) -- I would love to hear it.
Thanks for reading
I am working on another mid-90s Ford Ranger at home. This one has a power steering rack leaking out the driver's side (and thinning/washing out the grease in the rack+pinion), meaning a failing seal that separates the hydraulic side of the rack from the mechanical side of the rack.
Unfortunately this seal is buried right in the middle of the housing (approximately 12 inches from each end) , so it is not easy to grab with a pick, pliers, chisel, or anything else. Further, it is installed against the shoulder formed by a reduction in diameter. This shoulder is large enough that only the inner lip of the seal is "visible" from the rear, nothing substantial to grab for removal.
I don't have any extra-extra-long picks, so I made one. Using a ~20" long piece of 1/2" round aluminum stock, and a small piece of spring steel from an old windshield wiper, I made this:
and tried the spring steel in two positions; the one shown above as well as 90 degrees - more like a knife where it could bite into the rubber.
This did not work, because the meatier part of the seal was protected by the reduced diameter/shoulder behind it. All this improvised pick was doing was tearing up the inner lip of the seal. No matter how many times I tried, I could not get the pokey bit of the pick to get purchase between the seal and the shoulder, it was just too tight. I also was concerned that the seal might be metal-sleeved, in which case it would have more holding force than I could overcome with this solution.
I was thinking about how professional rebuilders might remove this seal, and was picturing some kind of tool that could expand inside the seal and grab it. Hydraulic, pneumatic, or screw-driven mechanisms would be too involved to throw together in the home shop for this one-time use, and may not even be workable for me since I didn't have the exact dimensions of what I was facing.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the full fabrication process since I was making this up as I went, but here was the idea, with some pictures below:
- The head of the tool should have 3 teeth that can cam outwards and bite the metal
- They would need to have an outer diameter under 31mm when folded down
- and an outer diameter ideally around (or over) the outside diameter of the seal when biting and extending outwards
- They need to move easily enough that tickling the rubber with them lets them start to get purchase so they want to bite in further
I did not lay out the shape of the teeth with the min/max OD in mind, and kinda winged it.
Manufacture consisted of (shown below, where I had pictures)
1) Find a ~1" piece of steel in the scrap bin
1.5) Find some metal for the teeth - found a little 3x3 piece of 1/8" plate
2) Cut a groove for the teeth, roughly 1/8" wide
3) Drill holes for roll pins as pivots for the teeth
4) Drill and tap the back of this "head" for 3/8-16 so that it can be attached to a handle
5) If this all looks promising, add a T-handle at the end for power and control
First I cut the groove on the lathe. In the picture below the slot is concealed just inside the collet.
The jaw layout wasn't perfect, I did this vertically in the drill press using a 6-sided collet block, and didn't put enough care into maintaining the same position in the vise. They are roughly 120 degrees apart...
With 3/4" long, 3/32 roll pins installed, I put in the first set of jaws (they ended up being a bit too short). To make the jaws I cut the 1/8" plate into pieces on the bandsaw; drilled a hole for the pivot off-center at the end; and rounded off that corner with a file so that it could fold down without hitting the back of the groove.
Fortunately I did think to under-drill the holes for the roll pins and/or not over-drive them so that they could be removed - since I did need to remove the jaws for tweaking and putting in a longer set later on.
With the longer jaws, this was looking promising. The jaws do engage once I tickle the ID of the seal with them, and they do want to bite in more. I realized that turning the end with a pipe wrench won't give me the control I want (modulated twisting; and pulling at the same time), so I added a T-handle to the back.
I drilled a 5/8 hole in a piece of angle iron to act as a handle, and welded it to the end of the steel shaft. With a few attempts, and finally remembering to try pulling as I rotate (after getting purchase) -- the seal did come out.
Hopefully I can get the right seal kit and clean up the inside of the rack well enough for a successful rebuild from here. I doubt I'll need this tool again, but it can't hurt to unscrew the business end and keep it around; the round stock and angle iron can get reused for something if needed.
If anyone knows what the right tool is for the job, or what professional rebuilders use for removing such seals installed against a shoulder (effectively a blind hole in terms of getting useful purchase on the seal for removal) -- I would love to hear it.
Thanks for reading
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