Manual steering box seal replacement

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sammie

sammie

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Hi guys.
I am restoring a 67 dart with manual steering. My question is , can I just change the two seals on the box without taking the box completely apart? I have the worm seal out already but didnt take the lower shaft seal out yet. I dont want to get in over my head with 120 bearings and parts all over the place . BtW the seal for the worm shaft "top" doesn't seam to want to go in. Does it go in with seal facing the box ? I bought the new seal from skf 7412 . Does the metal part go up or down on the seal? Up looks right to me but it seems to putting up a fight!
 
With most seals, the outer surface is flat with the part numbers on it. If the seal has a spring, that goes on the inside. I've never pulled them without taking the box apart, but, it should be doable with a screw tip slide hammer......like the ones used for pulling small dents out of body panels. You might be able to use a screw driver to pry them out, but, no guarantees from me!
 
That top seal is a PIA to install with the box all the way apart. Very easy to bend it out of shape installing it. If it is a needle bearing box ( last three of the casting number is 349) it's not that hard to take apart and reassemble. Three stacks of 40 needle bearings. But it could be a bushing box.
 
I always used a socket to tap them in whenever I needed to change one of those seals, which wasn't often. Usually, it was when a bearing went bad and allowed axial play in the worm shaft. I think '67 was the year where they discontinued the bushing version and went all bearing.
 
Interesting. I've rebuilt probably a hundred of those manual boxes and only found the bushed boxes in the '66 and older 6cyl. cars. I looked in my factory '66 and '68 parts books, and don't find that number.
 
The bushing box is cheaper and faster to build. the 349 needle box was originally intended for the V8 B body as they were heaver. The 350 bushing box was widely used in most all applications. I've rebuilt many many gear boxes and can say the opposite. I usually find one needle bearing box for every 9 bushing boxes.
 
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