1970 Ford 4000 power steering leak question

Hi all -
I've got the newer style combined pump/reservoir and the original steel lines from the pump to the steering column. Just recently went from no leaks to a small leak to a pretty major leak over a matter of days. The leak is at the pump outlet, looks to be where the 90deg brass elbow meets the flared steel line.

I was expecting to find a flare that was split, or possibly a split nut. But to my surprise it actually looks like the seat on the brass elbow is worn and no longer providing a good mating surface.

According to my parts manual the elbow is part #C5NN3N676A but when I look for this online, those that say what it actually is claim it's a 37deg JIC fitting instead of what I had assumed would be a standard 45deg flare.

I'll pull the fitting and inspect more closely this evening, but I'm tempted to see if I can simply dress the face of this fitting up a bit, maybe tune up the existing flare a little on the steel line and see if I can get it to re-seat. I'm guessing that this elbow isn't some stock thing I can get from NAPA.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Greg

my 4600 had the EXACT same problem, the fitting was worn / imprinted, vs the steel line.

ps, mine wasn't brass, it was that gold colored plated steel, like a regular hyd fitting.

it tried dressing mine, even lapping it by hand, and it still leaked a lil bit. I actually temporarilly soldered it and dressed it again and got it to stop leaking ( solder must have been soft and deformed enough to match and seal, but in the mean time I got 'more correct' parts. A buddy of mine does hyds and gave me a box of hardware to fix it with.

good luck!

soudnguy

Greg,
I had a brass fitting like yours that had become worn and would no longer seal. I bought a new one at the dealer - don't remember the cost now.
I put it in and it solved the problem. For a while... Then the steel line that hooks to it cracked right at the flare. You couldn't see the crack even in good light but it was leaking.
That's when I figured out that it is important to have all the clamps on the lines to keep them from vibrating and causing leaks. There is a plastic one right by the pump that holds the two lines together. There's another one under the hood by the front of the cowl. Get a new fitting and your lines attached properly and you should have no further problems.
PS IIRC you have an SU.
You should menion that when talking about your 4000 steering.

pull the collar back on the line. put in about 10 wraps of teflon on the back of the line so the collar will go over the teflon. push the collar back and tighten. the additional teflon will help the collor push the steel line up tight into the brass fitting. this will usually give you another 10 years or so. I have even used small orings on the back side between the collor(flare nut) and the steel lines. the row crops even used a square ring on the back side to help push the line into the brass and the square oring is all but impossible to find. but a couple wraps of teflon between the nut and the tubing,and all it good again.

Thanks for the quick responses. Didn't expect to hear from you, Soundguy, as I know you've got mostly manual steering. Glad to hear I'm not the only one with the problem though.

Ultra, I do have one of the clips to hold the hoses together, but it looks from the parts manual like I should have two of them. I'll check locally and see if I can find another clip.. Messick's also has them. The pump outlet elbow looks like the same part number for the 3000/4000/4000su, but you're right it can't hurt to be more specific. Mine is indeed an SU.

I think I'll give the o-ring/teflon trick a try to see if I can get it to hold in the short term while I try to search out a replacement fitting. Probably kludge up a second clip in the meantime too, and hope that I don't have a small split in the flare that I can't see.

I'll post back with whatever I learn. Thanks again!
Greg

OK, good news. Found a source for the fitting and the clip. Also realized that to replace the fitting, I'll need to remove or at least loosen up the pump to get clearance from the frame. I don't remember if I can do that with the loader on or not, but either way it's a bigger project than I have time to dig into this time of year getting ready for snow.

The teflon tape behind the flare did the trick for now, and I've got two layers of hose (3/8 fuel line and 5/8 garden hose) around the two pipes acting as a clip or vibration dampener where the lines head down towards the pump. Looks like that will hold for a while and let me get some projects finished outdoors before the ground freezes.

One more question.. I'm running UTF in the power steering system, and boy is it foaming like mad right now. I suspect it's because I lost so much fluid and aerated what was left, and I suspect I'll have to keep topping it up, bleeding the air, and waiting for more air to come out of the oil (then repeat) for a while until things settle down. Thoughts?

Thanks again for getting me back in business, both in the short term and the long term.

Greg

MOST of my pre 65 stuff is manual steering, whereas this 65+ stuff.. well.. I guess PS was WAY more popular.. MOST of my 65+ stuff IS ps.. .. in fact.. only 1 65+ mdel I have is manual.. the rest are PS...

soundguy

Geez.. how many 65+ machines do you have now? Seems like only yesterday the 4600 was your first?

Thanks again for the help!
Greg