Dennis Murawski

The cylinder on my 1969 small block is leaking. From what I can see, I can do a core exchange and buy a remanufactured unit, or buy a brand new unit without core exchange. Strangely enough they're about the same price. Are the new cylinders better made or should I stay with an old remanufactured unit? Or the other option is to keep filling up the reservoir and spreading cat litter on the floor. Thanks.

Bikespace

Who will do the work? If you are the one who will take it off the car, perhaps do the rebuild yourself. Is it the piston, or the hoses that is/are leaking?

While it is out of the car, consider a Borgeson upgrade, or manual conversion. I tried both paths with my two cars. No leaks after I swapped in a rebuilt steering pump into the Borgeson equipped car.

Dennis Murawski

It was an oily mess in that area, but from what the mechanic showed me, it's leaking from the cylinder. I personally am not in a position to rebuild the unit by myself. As far as I know the pump is okay.

jim-81

Might want to check and see if yours can be rebuilt. I have read that some cannot. I just went through this because my cylinder was leaking. I had bought it from Rockauto three years ago and it was just out of warranty! I looked at the price of a new one (~ $200) and decided to upgrade to a Borgeson unit. So we will see how that is. The Borg unit was $670 from Summit.

HeadsU.P.

Usually, not always, usually the chrome-like shaft on those things has a scratch, burr or a high spot from road grit. Every time that rod enters the cylinder it wears on the end seal, causing a leak. The whole unit is easy to swap out, not so easy to rebuild. If you can not guarantee the rod is free of defects when you rebuild it, it will begin leaking again in short order. You are farther ahead just replacing the whole unit.
When installing the pressure lines, make sure they crisscross and one of the fittings will go in on a slight angle. Apply a little Teflon tape half way up the threads on the fittings. Use a line-wrench to snug them down tight.
After all is done, bleed the entire system by turning the steering wheel "lock to lock" a dozen times or so. (Preferably with the tires off the ground)

If I remember correctly, there is a place in Texas that will buy your old PS cylinder.

jhudec

Mine was leaking, I purchased the rebuilt kit, but after starting that job I found the shaft had a bad ridge worn in it. As far as I know
the shaft cannot be replaced because the cap on the unit has been welded on, so unless you know someone who can cut it off
and weld it up again, you are better off replacing it.
I have no idea it the rebuilt units are better than the new units.
I purchased a used one from a forum member that works great, no leaks.

Joe

joewill

if your rod is not perfect and has any rust or small nick, then any new rebuild with even new seals will immediately start to leak.
go with the new one..
the rebuilt ones from the chinese rebuild houses don't even take this into consideration. they put new seals in and send the part off on its way.

stock76

The first replacement I bought after trying to rebuild my original one (no go) was a brand new Chinese made unit. Pure crap.

The best OEM rebuilt units are the ones that have the outer tube cut at the original weld and a new inner sleeve with all washers and seals and chrome rod replaced and the tube re-welded and pressure tested like factory original.

I bought one of the VBP rebuilt units with a stainless steel inner sleeve. VBP is gone now but there are some other companies offering rebuilts with all new innards too.

Trying to rebuild just the outer part of the ram with the little rebuild kit only works if all the stuff inside is still good.

marc9889

Sorry for being a couple of days late. I agree with ^ Stock76, the import units are 100% junk. I also installed a rebuilt one, and it lasted about 8 months of very sparse driving. After that episode, I decided to do quite a bit of reading on the subject before I did anything else, and I found that some of the members expressed that they didn't think a rebuilt one would hold up these days, simply because the buildable cores were so old and had been rebuilt many times. I bought a new one from CSSB in Miami, and that put an end to the problems. No leaks, no issues, and no frustration, though I did have to make a very small adjustment once installed. CSSB even bought my old one, though I cant personally attest whether they do that now or not. Good luck with your repair.