PS pump problems
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,001
Likes: 113
From: Saginaw Michigan
The driveshaft seal should be available at GM dealerships and at most automotive supply stores. You do not have to disassemble the pump in order to remove and replace the seal. You do have to remove the pump from your car and remove the pulley.
You should take a strip of shim stock 0.005 inch thick by about 2 1/2 inches long. Wrap it around the drive shaft and force it down between the seal lips and the shaft. This is to keep from damaging the driveshaft while you destroy the old seal in getting it out.
Take a narrow chisel or punch and break through the face of the metal seal case. Punch several holes in a circle around it. Now when the case is weakened, press the outside diameter of the case inward away from the pump housing until you can pull the whole seal out.
Remove the shim. You may need to polish the driveshaft to remove corrosion on the surface of the driveshaft. You do not want corrosion products to scrape and tear the new seal as you are installing it. Look closely at the area where the original pump seal lips were sealing on the shaft. Polish the shaft in a circular motion around the shaft - not lengthwise.
Coat the new seal with power steering fluid. Find a socket or a bushing that is almost the size of the outside case of the seal. You want to be pressing as close to the outside of the case as possible. You do not want to be pressing on the sealing lips. Press the new seal until it is fully seated in the housing. Don't bottom the bushing on the driveshaft!
I have a scan showing the procedure from a Saginaw service manual. It isn't all that great. But I can send it to you if you give me your eMail address.
JIML82@aol.com
You should take a strip of shim stock 0.005 inch thick by about 2 1/2 inches long. Wrap it around the drive shaft and force it down between the seal lips and the shaft. This is to keep from damaging the driveshaft while you destroy the old seal in getting it out.
Take a narrow chisel or punch and break through the face of the metal seal case. Punch several holes in a circle around it. Now when the case is weakened, press the outside diameter of the case inward away from the pump housing until you can pull the whole seal out.
Remove the shim. You may need to polish the driveshaft to remove corrosion on the surface of the driveshaft. You do not want corrosion products to scrape and tear the new seal as you are installing it. Look closely at the area where the original pump seal lips were sealing on the shaft. Polish the shaft in a circular motion around the shaft - not lengthwise.
Coat the new seal with power steering fluid. Find a socket or a bushing that is almost the size of the outside case of the seal. You want to be pressing as close to the outside of the case as possible. You do not want to be pressing on the sealing lips. Press the new seal until it is fully seated in the housing. Don't bottom the bushing on the driveshaft!
I have a scan showing the procedure from a Saginaw service manual. It isn't all that great. But I can send it to you if you give me your eMail address.
JIML82@aol.com
Last edited by Jim Shea; Aug 27, 2004 at 12:20 AM.
Race Director
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 10,643
Likes: 8
From: Foxfield CO 1970 Convertible
I just rebuilt my PS pump last weekend. I bought a "rebuild kit" at NAPA for $17. It contains all the seals and O-rings (including the shaft seal) and comes with a full set of instructions. I thought it was pretty easy to disassemble, put in the new rings and reassemble. The hardest part was removing the pulley. The only caveat is that my pump is from 1970... 
