Picked up a `96 box and called Lee's for their adapter kit (rag joint and ferrules to adapt my PS lines to the newer box). The folks at Lee's noted that one of the ports won't accept the ferrule until a small valve is removed. He noted that it would be easy to see - he was right. He noted further, that it would be easy to remove - hmmmmm. Although one of my personal maxims has long been "When in doubt, use force", I'm reluctant to do so in this case. Please let me know if removing this valve (from the smaller of the two ports, as I recall) truly is a simple matter.
Thanks!
Norm

That little metal plate is a check valve. Millions of Saginaw power gears have that valve in the pressure port. It prevents pressure feedback from causing disturbances in your steering wheel when making a high speed turn. For the most part, most people won't even notice that it is (or is not) installed in the gear port.

It does cause a slight extra amount of back pressure in the steering system. But not enough to cause problems. The gears with metric o-ring ports have the check valve encased inside a metal capsule. The capsule is a press fit into the pressure port. The capsule contains a small spring and a metal plate. The danger would be that destroying the capsule as you attempt to remove it could cause pieces of the spring or the metal capsule to drop down inside the gear.

Looking at a cross-section of the Saginaw gear port with the check valve installed it appears that the capsule is quite deep inside the port. I would think that it is deep enough in the port that it shouldn't interfere with the Lee adapter.

Having said the above, Tom Lee designed his adapter(s) so he ought to know if you need to remove the capsule or not. I would think that he might have a technique developed that he could share to get the check valve capsule out of the port.

I already have a call into one of the steering gear engineers at Saginaw on another topic. When he calls back, I will ask if he has a good method to remove the capsule. (Although I suspect he is just going to say to pry it out with a screwdriver.)

JIML82

Thanks, Jim, I suspect you're right - force might well be in order. I'll talk to Lee Mfg again and will also wait to see what you come back with.
Thanks again!

I left a message yesterday for the power steering gear project engineer. I hate to bug those guys too often. They have a lot more important current engineering projects as compared to answering questions on 10, 20, and 35 year old products. (Don't forget that all of the engineers that actually designed the model 700 power steering gear are long ago retired.)

The current engineers have been most helpful; I just have to cut them some slack when it comes to having the time to answer my questions.

Jim

Find an easy-out that just fits into the hole in the check valve capsule. Screw it in a turn or so. Pull it straight out.

As I mentioned before, I have seen pictures of the Tom Lee inserts (I haven't had any to actually inspect.) I just don't think that the insert sticks down far enough to actually hit the check valve. (I might be wrong on this.)

JIML82

What effect does the valve have if left in? I hadn't heard of doing it before now. I don't remember pulling anything out of mine when I did the install. Operationally speaking, what would the difference be?