Ram Assist Power Steering Rebuild w/Pics

[1967C20]

First, a little background info. I'm doing a front suspension rebuild on my '67 which came from the factory with the ram assisted power steering unit. The whole setup works well but leaks like crazy. As anyone who has one of these units knows, you won't find them listed in most truck catalogs or parts houses. I guess most people get tired of the leaks and lack of parts and switch over to an integral system. Me, I like the uniqueness of the system (most people have never seen one before), it isn't broken, and plus my budget is kind of tight, so I decided "rebuild" and set about finding info and parts. The pictures below show the parts of the system and how they are installed on the truck.

The ram.


The control valve.


The center link and how it attaches to the control valve.


Now, here's the weird part. Someone told me (I think it was my mechanic) that Corvette's (thru 1982) have the same ram assist steering setup as my truck. I did a little searching in the online Corvette catalog's and found that the rams and control valves looked identical to what was on my truck. Something else I found were rebuild kits. I settled on Ecklers Corvette http://www.ecklers.com/ (their rebuild kits seemed to be the most complete) and ordered one for the ram and one for the control valve.

First up, the control valve:
Here is what came in the rebuild kit. The flat washer and the large o-ring were not used in my application. The directions and diagram that came in the kit were helpful but not always needed. I mean, this ain't rocket surgery.


Remove the dust cap on the end of the control valve to expose the lock nut.


Unbolt the two halves of the control valve and the guts will slide out like so...