Steering Box (wheelhouse) leak

[James Blackwell]

Hi There, I'm new to the BAC but have had a 1996 34' Monterey for a long time. It is on the Magnum chassis and on a recent trip I developed a leak in the steering box. I patched it enough to get home and it is intermitting on the leak.....Went 1500 miles back home with no leak, then the other day I went 50 milers and it almost emptied the reservoir. It needs some O rings or seal kit. If I ask anyone about it, they say they have never heard of the brand. Does anyone know where I can get a seal or overhaul kit? I know some other people must have had this problem. I talked to a fellow that had his rebuilt in Slidel, LA, and it was as dry as a powder keg. He said he was going to send me the name of the outfit, but I never heard from him. If no one responds I'm going to try McMaster-Carr for individual O rings. They have a lot of non-standard rings. Enclosing a picture of the unit. You can see the red fluid where it is leaking. Would appreciate any info on the subject. Allen Blackwell

[Jeff Johnson]

  James,
  If you go under technical info and go up in the upper right search box and type in "steering box leak"you can see my dilemma about the fourth week I had just bought my '96 33' Savannah!
   I found out it is a Sheppard M83 that Red hat in Auburn Washington rebuilt for me for $490 sitting on the bench(out of the vehicle). I was charged $850 from International Trucks up by Everett to get it R n R (removed and reinstalled) and test drove too.
  Yeah I had to stop every 10 miles and throw a couple of gallons in to keep from running the pump dry. While you're starring at things back there check on the coupling that connects the front coupling of the engine to the hydraulic pump, you should have very little radial or axial movement.
   Sorry I'm not in the same state as my coach right now, otherwise I might be able to see all the part numbers etc on the work
   order.

  Hope this helps and you get back on the road.
   Jeff

[Eric Maclean]

James
A couple of things to check first.
1) Are you sure it's the power steering box that's leaking and not the power steering high pressure hose feeding it from your pictures there looks to be fluid dripping off the hose or pressure switch area around the top of the box where the hose attaches to the box
There is also an ORB ( O ring base fitting) up there that uses an O ring to seal it to the box if the jam nut has loosed off that O ring may be leaking.
If it is indeed the input shaft seal that is leaking you should be able to get just that seal or a complete rebuild kit for the box but first you'll need the box model number ( it should be on the box either on a tag or cast into the casting)

2) while you're under there follow the hoses back to the passenger side frame rail,  on my coach the high pressure hose rubbed a whole in it on end of the frame rail where it turned sharply behind the gen set to cross over to the driver's side ( it was not fun pulling a new 40 foot hose through the entire coach).
You should be able to get parts from any good truck parts supply ( NAPA) etc

The seal kits can be found on Amazon but make sure you have the right model number first.
You should be able to reach  tech support for Sheppard at 1 800-274-7437

https://powersteeringseals.com/product/sheppard-m83-heavy-duty/

Seal kit part numbers

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.rhsheppard.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Power-Steering-Gear-Seal-Kits.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiZvNqZwZj3AhXaHM0KHfR3DM8QFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3Q4rVBwnA95NvVdRfpwZKb

M series repair manual

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.rhsheppard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mseriesmanual.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwipu8XV0Jj3AhVBbs0KHaimA0sQFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2imyYzTl9keZaH9O4DUG_3

Hope this helps some
Eric

[Joel Ashley]

I agree with Eric.  There looks to be fluid elsewhere that could be the source, not just spray-back.

Joel

[James Blackwell]

Thanks Jeff, Eric, and Joel,
Yes Eric, I'm sure it is the steering box that is leaking. I was in Montana when it first let loose. I took it off myself and it has an O-ring around the main shaft that is sort of flattened out and the fluid is pouring out the weep hole at the end of the shaft. I had tried in Kalispell, MT to find an O-ring at the auto part places NAPA & Autozone but none the right size. I did a little engineering to get me back to MS with minimal leakage.
I'm going to drop the box tonight and get the make and model and then check it with the info you stated in your replies.  It takes about 20 minutes to drop it and about the same time to replace. If I can find that place in Slidel, LA, about 65 miles from me, I'm going to take it to them. They did a beautiful job on the one I mentioned in the original post. If not, I'm going to find a rebuild kit and do it myself.
After reading your post, I will check the lines closely and the pump itself. On another note, the parking brake valve, which uses the same pump and fluid was leaking but a local guy and I were able to overhaul it.
O-The-Joy of owning an aging motorhome.

Thanks again everyone,
Allen