My power steering control valve is leaking fluid and I am trying to remove it. I have disconnected all the lines (no problems). I have removed the bolt holding the unit to the relay arm (no problem). I have removed the castle nut from the control valve (no problem). Now I am trying to separate the control valve from the pitman arm (big problem). What is the best way to finish removing the control valve? Help!!!!!!!!!!!!

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|UPDATED|4/7/2015 10:02:01 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

"pickle fork"  Your local auto supply store "rents" them for free.  Stick between the two and hit it with a big hammer and it will come loose with maybe 3 blows.

3 blows if your lucky, they are a b**** to get off, fortunately for me i had everything off so i had to put it in a vise and hammer it apart, but then it had forty years of grime etc. holding it together.  Now it is in pieces and just waiting to get the parts for it.  So in the meantime have most of the steering components sandblasted and painted... slow but sure wins the race.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will give it a try. I do have a "pickle fork" and I kind of figured that would be the way to go. Currently the car is setting on ramps. Does is help or hurt to jack the body up to try to put pressure on the area so that it can "pop" apart or does jacking the body up just put things in a bind?

Here watch this video. It just doesn't show the actual separation of the valve with a pickle fork. It is a pretty good video otherwise.

|UPDATED|4/7/2015 3:11:42 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

First time I did mine it was incredibly hard. Over a period of 3 weeks I tried all sorts of devices including a pickle fork without success,  Maybe I was just too shy with the big hammer :-(

Finally got it with a puller tool a fellow C3'er had made especially for this job. 

From what I learned that time, when I had to do it a second time I simply did it with the

control valve in situ on the car. Just popped off the two hoses from the end, 

followed by the adjuster nut, and then undid the two bolts which hold the two halves

of the valve together. which enables you to remove the hydraulics half containing the

spools and the seals. So much easier !  From there you can still also dismantle the other

half and give it a clean out as well if you wish. Once you unscrew the retainer ring the cups just

come apart and release the pitman arm stud/ball end which sits between the cups. 

Only thing to watch during reassembly is to take particular care to ensure the stud/ball

and cups are all properly centred/mated with respect to each other so no inadvertent play

is left in there. Otherwise the castellated locking ring won't screw down fully to where it

need to be. 

There's a grease nipple on my control valve. I have learned (the hard way) to only use this

during reassembly of the cups & ball and then never again. This is why I had to redo mine a

second time...  exuberant greasing of the control valve through the nipple at 6 monthly

regular maintenance intervals results in seals leaking again. Ho hum...

Anyway each to their own, but I'll never bother seperating the pitman arm from its stud/ball

again.