Could somebody tell me the correct order to dissasemble a 48-52 f1 steering box (or sector) please ? I,am going to reman mine,i,ve found all the parts so this isnt any problem but i cant find anything on dissasembly and reasembly including spec's for clearences and possibly timming the gears inside. all help is appreciated. thanks bob
I had one apart a while back but don't remember anything trick about it. I guess if I had to do one now I would just center it up and "roll" the sector out. Best I recall, its about that simple. Maybe mark the steering shaft at 12 o'clock so its center when you re-assemble. Tim
Well started the dissasembly. heres some info for everybody for what I,ve accomplished so far. to remove the steering wheel, you need a puller of course, threadded holes in steering wheel hub are 5/16" fine thread. to be safe i run a tap into them to clean the threads out then I needed a 15/16's deep socket to loosen the steering wheel nut,I screwed the nut out until it was even with the end of the steering shaft. then I installed the puller,it came off with little effort so I removed the puller,steering shaft nut and had the steering wheel in my hands. next I loosened the band clamp on the bottom of the steering colomn tube, took a rubber mallet and gently hit the tube up towards where the steering wheel mounted. took about 1 1/2" of movement until it was free then completely removed it from the steering shaft. now to clean the box up best i can before openning it up for 100% dissasembly. more to come asap. bob
I,am thinking about filling this reman box up with lubriplate #105 engine assembly white grease instead of gear oil .......... any thought fellas ?
I think I would stick with the gear oil. I used the lubriplate when rebuilding my 39 trans. Its not even been run yet and the lubriplate is pretty much broken down.
Once the column tube is off, there's basically only two more places to disassemble. Do the side plate first. Remove the four small bolts, then tap the end of the sector into the box and the plate should come right off with the sector. Then remove the four small bolts on the end plate. Tap the steering shaft downward and the plate, bearings, and worm/shaft will come out the bottom of the box. The upper worm bearing/race might stick in the box and require some tapping with a brass punch. Now you will have all the parts out of the box and can clean and review their condition. Pretty simple huh? When I reassembled mine I used half STP and half thick gear oil. But, it seeps past the seals and gaskets. Many guys have said they use corn head grease (obtained at a John Deere dealer) and it works very well. I'm gonna try that next time I get a round tuit.
I don't think Lubriplate 105 has a weight rating as it's intended for a short start up. I beleive the original oil was 600W, you'll find several discussions about it. It's technically not 600 weight from what I've read, I think 600W was an old part number or a vintage rating system. You can still buy 600W from Mac's, Snyders, or Bob Drake. However, many people use 140 gear oil or some use straight STP oil additive. Some people are using the John Deere cornhead grease, which acts like a grease until it starts to move and then it becomes more viscous like an oil. The steering box does not rotate fast like a typical gear box so I question how viscous it actually becomes, but it would probably reduce the chances of a leaky box.
What alchemy said, haha.... To your original question, if the worm gear is bad that is a little more of a pain. My worm gear had a chunk missing out of a gear.
ok, got it a part with no problems, now to clean this mess up. its like axle grease inside just about. how do you press off the gear on the steering shaft ?
Best just to cut 99% of the way through the worm gear with a cutoff disk, then use a chisel and crack it the rest of the way. Pressing the new one on will be 1000 times harder. You need to support the shaft in a press so it doesn't bend, but also so you don't bugger up the threads on the steering wheel end.
to get it back on I was thinking to heat gear up in the oven to 450 degrees and pack shaft in dry ice for 3-4 hours. expand gear i.d. shrink shaft o.d. and be ready to press as last resort. got the box completely stripped and cleaned. top column bearing and race was 80% gone,all hard chrome was missing on race and bearing rollers. i couldnt get bearing race,bearing and seal numbers of the removed parts. anybody have them numbers before I put my local bearing house guy thru the I.D. them please for me !!! also on the brass bushings for the sector shaft, there is about 3/4" of non bushing in between the 2 bushings. think I,am gonna get 3 new bushings and make the sector shaft 100% supported with bronze bushing. now to get them bushings out !
600 weight leaks. Penright makes a great product just for this application. Restoration Supply sells it. Cheep and works great Walter Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
WALTER, I,LL look into that. thank you so much pal. neet "real" hot rod also............ mind if i ask what size your tires are ? stands perfect !
Not sure if this will help as it is out of a 1946 Motor Manual on cars rather than trucks but take a look. (edited) OOPs, Photobucket put the pages out of order. I'll fix that and hope they show up right here. Link to the album is here: http://s173.photobucket.com/user/mr48chev/library/Gemmer steering box?sort=4&page=1 It's high resolution so you an save and expand the pages if you need to.
The Jalopy Journal
