Here is a link to the pics I took:
http://s264.photobucket.com/albums/ii186/73chal/Power%20steering%20gear%20rebuild/
Seems like I could have taken more pics but I was in a bit of a hurry when I was working with it.
Hmmm, So you are feeling the reaction springs only when turning the wheel to one direction while the engine isn't running? If I recall right I had some issues when I was assembling the power piston and ball screw assembly back into the housing. The assembly tend to stuck so that the other spring was always pressed to the bottom. It took a couple of tries before I got it right.
Have you removed the power steering valve and checked the movement of the lever that actuates the valve? It might be possible that the lower spring has broken apart or if the previous owner has tried to rebuild the box and forgot to install the lower spring altogether?
Easiest way would be to order the rebuild kit from Rock Auto or similar and just tear it apart. It takes only a couple of evenings and it can be done with fairly common tools with some improvisation.
Hey man your photographs are sooooo helpful. This is all making sense now.
I have checked my valve body and the pivot lever and they are fine. The problem I can detect is as you say with the engine off. The input shaft will turn "left" and move slightly out of the box as it should and then return on it's own, but when I turn it "right" it moves a similar amount into the box but doesn't return by itself. In terms of the valve lever, it moves back on a left turn and then springs back to the middle but on a right turn it moves forward and then stays there until I rotate the shaft back (though actually I can just see it move back a tiny little bit on its own). [I may have got my forwards and backs mixed up but I think you get what I mean]
When I got the car it had been standing for a long time and I remember when I first got it running the steering immediately went all the way over one way, so of course I thought someone must have been playing with the valve body, but now I am thinking maybe the car was parked up a long time with pressure on the lower spring and it got stuck like that. When I adjusted the valve body to cure the self-steering I guess I put it into the "slack" area where the lower spring ought to be operating - which could account for the strange steering symptoms I have (no self-return out of corners and unable to turn the sector shaft manually). I figure if the valve is off center so that the two sides of the power piston are not able to exchange fluid when I release the steering wheel then it will have created a passive hydraulic lock.
In your photos I think I can see both the reaction rings but perhaps you can confirm this. The upper ring is on the bench in photos 4919 and 4920 and the lower ring is sitting inside the casing in photo 4924, is that correct ?
If that is correct then I think I was right to suspect that both rings can be replaced without disturbing the staked nut and without removing the main worm and power piston assembly from the casing. The ring in your 4924 looks about ready to fall out on its own, and I think I see the hole above it where the little lever comes through.
One thing I can't see in your photos is how the spacer sits inside the unit. The "spacer" is the name in the manual given to the large ring that looks like a pulley and which I assume operates the bottom end of the little lever, I can see it assembled between the end cover and the piston head in photo 4928 and it looks like it must just slide on over the bearing that I can see under the nut in 4926. Can you tell me is that right?
Many many many thanks.
