leaky Eaton power steering pumps

[heyjavelin]

The Eaton Power Steering pumps AMC used from at least mid 60s thru '71 in V-8 applications are very prone to leak badly. All of them by now will be leaking after 30 plus years. The complete seal kit is available from many parts stores. I know Parts America chains (Kragen, Advance, and others) and Oreilly carry it. It only costs about 10 dollars. It includes all the o-rings, the grommet for top, the lid seal, shaft seal and the dreaded reservoir bowl seals (the prime leaker usually); everything you need.

You want Powercraft brand kit #7168 (says either Stant or Edelman; Dixon, IL on back of box). Ford/Mercury also used the Eaton pump in some applications. This is a very easy pump to take apart and put back together. It's explained in the AMC TSMs (which I always recommend someone buy...it will be the best money they ever spend on their car), but is very staight forward for someone with basic mechanic skills to replace all the seals in an Eaton roller vane P/S pump used by AMC 1971 and older.

[sqzbox]

My AMX had a problem with leaking resevoir O ring and after replacing it twice in 1 year I fabricated one from a piece of hose that was thicker than the factory O ring and didn't have anymore problems from it.

[donsjave]

A couple of things here and I am probably the only person to not have the problem of leaky pumps.
My 71 Javelin has the Eaton pump on it and except for the low pressure hose has never leaked. I guess I should be knocking on wood on this one which I already done. We also have a 70 AMX with the same pump on it and when we bought the car, the top of the seals where it connects to the reservior was badly bented up. The reservior itself was fine, just the pump itself was bad on the top portion. Beats the **** out of me on how that happened, just anyones guess I suppose. So what we did was that the Eaton Pump itself was still being re-manufactured and I purchased one thru Checker Auto Parts for about $30.00 or so. Hooked it up to the reservior which has to be done since the pump only comes by itself without the reservior. The pump did come with replacement seals which seem a little thicker than the ones that were on the old pump. After about 4 years, it too is working just fine without any leaks.
The other thing that I have seen is the using of the newer style GM pump on the older AMCs. People have figured out a way of using the GM pump on the old pulley setups of the older engines (pre 72) without changing all of the pulleys. One of these days, I will get photographs of it and try and post it on this website.

[CloudyB]

Mine is leaking on the reservior top Gasket.The rubber under the top that the wing nut holds together).Should i just pre fab a gasket or anybody have any tricks or Ideas.thanks

[CloudyB]

Geez.My bad Napa has the Power steering pump rebuild kit #7-153 comes with it all.

[CloudyB]

Comes with all but the rubber I needed.Didn't come with the rubber that goes on the threaded bolt inside the cap that the washer and wing nut screws on too.Tried doubling up with another rubber gasket. See what happens.

[javelinjeff]

yeah,you dont want power steering fluid getting on that cross ram intake!!!!

[thinksnow]

Sorry to resurrect an almost decade-old thread (I did search!), but I was rebuilding my '69 Eaton pump last week with the EDELMANN 7168 kit (Rockauto, $8.05!) and there seem to be too many pieces left over, which is concerning and frustrating. I don't even know where half of them could go, while one or two of the "Extras" seem to be duplicates of something that there only appears to be space for one of.

Comparing the diagram to the rebuild pack:


Between this, the fact that the pulley is slightly wobbly out of true, and that this is my first real rebuild attempt, I'm thinking I should maybe just buy a new/rebuilt one off the shelf and not risk blowing up my car because I did something stupid like leaving out 2/3 of the repair kit...but your advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.