I hope this article of my experience in changing a Challengers PAS box will be handy. It was more straight forward than I dared believe and with carefull preparation, with all tools and sundry parts ready, could probably be done in an evening. It took two of us about 4hrs over 4 evenings!
The power steering box in my 71 318 Challenger leaked from the day I bought it but things really came to a head when a mate following me one day reported PAS fluid on the front of his '78 Trans Am! It was also beginning to cost me more in fluid than fuel.
One problem was sourcing a spare steering box, a second hand one could have the same or worse problem and I couldnt find a company in the UK that anyone could back up for rebuilding the current one. I liked the idea of a Firmfeel box from the U S but the shipping price put me off.
Eventually Duncan Watts came to the rescue (not for the first time!) as he had a PAS box out of a 69 Coronet. There was confusion as to whether it would fit or not and what its condition was, but I bit the bullet and went for it. Duncan very kindly offered a refund if it didnt, as his Dodge parts cross over book suggested it wouldnt.
Within days the box arrived, so I was commited to my first major job on american muscle!
Due to the weight and fiddly nature of the job I enlisted the help of me old mucker Mikey. Better known to you as Mustang Mike he is obviously into Fords poorer competitor to Mopar muscle, but he is trying to change his ways, bless him, and he probably knows his way round our cars better than his own.
I believe quite a few MMA members have been helped by his knowledge and enthusiasm.
First job was to find somewhere to do it, and a world war 2 hanger that once housed three Lancaster bombers seemed just big enough.
First job was to jack up and support vehicle and remove N S front wheel. We then had to release steering column from box. This is done by releasing 2 bolts under the dash frame and 3 bolts around the column support plate on the inside of the bulkhead, this allows the whole column to move fore & aft.
Next the roll pin in the steering box to column sliding joint was driven out using something pointy and a hammer. The whole steering column was then moved aft to clear the splines on the box, rocking the steering wheel at the same time helped! Part 2 to come
POWER STEERING BOX CHANGE, E-BODY CHALLENGER
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Anonymous
POWER STEERING BOX CHANGE, E-BODY CHALLENGER
Last edited by Anonymous on Fri Jul 02, 04 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Anonymous
POWER STEERING BOX CHANGE, E-BODY CHALLENGER part 2
With the steering column pulled away the next job was to disconnect the fluid feed hoses and seperate the pitman arm from the steering linkage.
For this we needed a ball joint seperator.
This was presented to us by Mikes mate, Neil, who was wearing nothing more than a bath towell and a surprised / annoyed look at the time, well it was a winters night!
The pitman arm is the connection from the drop shaft of the steering box to the main steering linkages.
With the ball joint retaining bolt undone and the joint seperated we could get on with removing the 3 steering box retaining bolts. This was done with the pitman arm still joined to the box.
This was the s***iest part of the job as there was oil and power steering fluid everywhere, Mike was under the car, I chose to work from above - because of my height you understand!
Its best to do it this way as two of the bolts are best reached from the top but one is underneath, also the weight of the box itself needs to be supported by someone throughout this process. We found that one of us was locating a bolt and guiding a socket on to it while the other operated the wrench and vice versa.
After much swearing the steering box was now free from the K member, this is where we thought we were home and dry.
Could we get that damn thing out through any gap!
After much arse scratching, and I think phoning Duncan a couple of times, It became obvious that the N S exhaust down pipe had to be disconected from the header. This was straight forward with just two nuts and bolts being taken off, I seem to remember this was quIcker than the debate as to whether to do it or not was!
Once disconnected there is plenty of movement in the exhaust pipe and this allowed the box to be rotated backwards and lowered down underneath the Challenger.
At last the box was out, procedure wise it was all fairly straight forward but the oil, fluid, coolant and general nastiness that we had to work and lie in was horendous! part 3 to follow
For this we needed a ball joint seperator.
This was presented to us by Mikes mate, Neil, who was wearing nothing more than a bath towell and a surprised / annoyed look at the time, well it was a winters night!
The pitman arm is the connection from the drop shaft of the steering box to the main steering linkages.
With the ball joint retaining bolt undone and the joint seperated we could get on with removing the 3 steering box retaining bolts. This was done with the pitman arm still joined to the box.
This was the s***iest part of the job as there was oil and power steering fluid everywhere, Mike was under the car, I chose to work from above - because of my height you understand!
Its best to do it this way as two of the bolts are best reached from the top but one is underneath, also the weight of the box itself needs to be supported by someone throughout this process. We found that one of us was locating a bolt and guiding a socket on to it while the other operated the wrench and vice versa.
After much swearing the steering box was now free from the K member, this is where we thought we were home and dry.
Could we get that damn thing out through any gap!
After much arse scratching, and I think phoning Duncan a couple of times, It became obvious that the N S exhaust down pipe had to be disconected from the header. This was straight forward with just two nuts and bolts being taken off, I seem to remember this was quIcker than the debate as to whether to do it or not was!
Once disconnected there is plenty of movement in the exhaust pipe and this allowed the box to be rotated backwards and lowered down underneath the Challenger.
At last the box was out, procedure wise it was all fairly straight forward but the oil, fluid, coolant and general nastiness that we had to work and lie in was horendous! part 3 to follow
Last edited by Anonymous on Fri Jul 02, 04 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Anonymous
POWER STEERING BOX CHANGE, E-BODY CHALENGER part 3
So, the old box was out!
You will have noticed I mentioned coolent earlier, well it was discovered that there was a coolent leak from the 318 block. As luck would have it, it was coming from a core (freeze) plug adjacent to the power steering box, it was as rotten as a pear and I still dont know how it didnt cause a serious leak at some other, less convenient, time. Obviously I hadnt allowed for this discovery and so I ordered a set of core plugs from U S Automotive, and they arrived in the following days post! This was fitted before the steering box was put back in as there is about 2 inches between them.
This allowed some time for Mike, at his work place, to remove the pitman arm from the old power steering box and attach to the replacement box. The arm itself has to be aligned correctly on to the splines and there is a grove in the shaft to allow for this. Its not a job to be rushed, gently gently being the order of the day!
There is a large nut that retains the arm to the drop shaft and this was torqued back on.
The rubber gaiter for the pitman arm ball joint was perished, although the ball joint itself was fine. Panic set in as after quite abit of phoning around it seemed the only way to get this rubber boot was with a brand new pitman arm. This is both expensive and time consuming because the only place I could locate one was from the states.
Mikey came to the rescue again and after rooting through "his" box of Landrover boots he found one that was absolutley ideal for the job.
Now came the time to put the replacement steering box back in the Challenger. This was the first worry as we werent sure it would fit. The original box has a totally different identity number to the B body Coronet box going in.
Everything went back well, all mouting holes and hose connections were in the same place, apart from the numbers everything looked identical.
The three steering box mounting bolts went straight in, the pitman arm was reconnected to the steering linkage, and nut torqued on and the steering column was reconnected to the splines on the box by refitting the rollpin. After that the exhaust down pipe was bolted back to the header, the five bolts holding the steering column to the bulkhead and dash were refitted and the power steering hoses were reconnected. On with the road wheel, a refill of steering fluid and the Challenger was ready for the road.
A carefull test drive followed just in case there were ratio or pressure differences between the two steering boxes but everything was fine, in fact alot better, the steering felt firmer and it didnt leak - result!
The Challenger has been fine ever since (apart from a dislocated upper ball joint!).
I hope this article has been of some use, if nothing more than to illustrate parts interchangeability, Coronet and Landrover into E body will go!
Thanks again to Mike and Duncan, as a show of gratitude I let Mike drive it everynow and then! Duncan has better Challengers so dosent need to!
You will have noticed I mentioned coolent earlier, well it was discovered that there was a coolent leak from the 318 block. As luck would have it, it was coming from a core (freeze) plug adjacent to the power steering box, it was as rotten as a pear and I still dont know how it didnt cause a serious leak at some other, less convenient, time. Obviously I hadnt allowed for this discovery and so I ordered a set of core plugs from U S Automotive, and they arrived in the following days post! This was fitted before the steering box was put back in as there is about 2 inches between them.
This allowed some time for Mike, at his work place, to remove the pitman arm from the old power steering box and attach to the replacement box. The arm itself has to be aligned correctly on to the splines and there is a grove in the shaft to allow for this. Its not a job to be rushed, gently gently being the order of the day!
There is a large nut that retains the arm to the drop shaft and this was torqued back on.
The rubber gaiter for the pitman arm ball joint was perished, although the ball joint itself was fine. Panic set in as after quite abit of phoning around it seemed the only way to get this rubber boot was with a brand new pitman arm. This is both expensive and time consuming because the only place I could locate one was from the states.
Mikey came to the rescue again and after rooting through "his" box of Landrover boots he found one that was absolutley ideal for the job.
Now came the time to put the replacement steering box back in the Challenger. This was the first worry as we werent sure it would fit. The original box has a totally different identity number to the B body Coronet box going in.
Everything went back well, all mouting holes and hose connections were in the same place, apart from the numbers everything looked identical.
The three steering box mounting bolts went straight in, the pitman arm was reconnected to the steering linkage, and nut torqued on and the steering column was reconnected to the splines on the box by refitting the rollpin. After that the exhaust down pipe was bolted back to the header, the five bolts holding the steering column to the bulkhead and dash were refitted and the power steering hoses were reconnected. On with the road wheel, a refill of steering fluid and the Challenger was ready for the road.
A carefull test drive followed just in case there were ratio or pressure differences between the two steering boxes but everything was fine, in fact alot better, the steering felt firmer and it didnt leak - result!
The Challenger has been fine ever since (apart from a dislocated upper ball joint!).
I hope this article has been of some use, if nothing more than to illustrate parts interchangeability, Coronet and Landrover into E body will go!
Thanks again to Mike and Duncan, as a show of gratitude I let Mike drive it everynow and then! Duncan has better Challengers so dosent need to!
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Anonymous
Thanks guys for that, I hope it is of some use and yes Mike is indeed a great help to us guys, shame he cant use the MMA forum! 
Irony heeped upon irony, ive just read you guys thread on seperating ball joints and coming to the conclusion that a proper sykes pickevant type ball joint seperator might be the way to go, I see SteveB concurred! Like Steve I discovered it through one of my 12 Rover P-6s!
At best it saves alot of energy and swearing at and at worst it can save some serious damage to joints etc, like most things im not sure the size of it matters, so long as the seperator prongs are up to the job.
Ivor I take it the splitter you were going to borrow off Mike was the same one I used!
When my O S upper ball joint went, it all popped out quite nicely by itself! 8)
Irony heeped upon irony, ive just read you guys thread on seperating ball joints and coming to the conclusion that a proper sykes pickevant type ball joint seperator might be the way to go, I see SteveB concurred! Like Steve I discovered it through one of my 12 Rover P-6s!
At best it saves alot of energy and swearing at and at worst it can save some serious damage to joints etc, like most things im not sure the size of it matters, so long as the seperator prongs are up to the job.
Ivor I take it the splitter you were going to borrow off Mike was the same one I used!
When my O S upper ball joint went, it all popped out quite nicely by itself! 8)
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Anonymous
Tell me about it!
We both work for the same illustrious firm and share similar fringe benefits!
Even though the Shack used V-12 Griffons I gues the capacity of 36 litres would necesitate big valves!! 3 ltrs per pot as apposed to just under 1 ltr in the comparitively puny 440!!
Just out of interest, here is a pic of the hangar we used for the job, back in April 1951. The airfield had been shut since '46 and to keep maintenance costs down the corrugated cladding was removed from all hangars, leaving the skeletal structure standing.
Unfortunatly this was forgotten and when Lancasters arrived in '51 this is what they had to put up with for several months! 8)
We both work for the same illustrious firm and share similar fringe benefits!
Even though the Shack used V-12 Griffons I gues the capacity of 36 litres would necesitate big valves!! 3 ltrs per pot as apposed to just under 1 ltr in the comparitively puny 440!!
Just out of interest, here is a pic of the hangar we used for the job, back in April 1951. The airfield had been shut since '46 and to keep maintenance costs down the corrugated cladding was removed from all hangars, leaving the skeletal structure standing.
Unfortunatly this was forgotten and when Lancasters arrived in '51 this is what they had to put up with for several months! 8)