Technical 1932 Pickup Rebuild Thread UPDATED 1/11/16

STEERING GEAR – PART 4


Parts Preparation


With all of the parts washed free of grease or oil and the worm gear successfully replaced it's time to start preparing the rest of the parts.


The first order of business was to remove the two bushings from the sector housing and bead blast it. Almost always the bushings will be worn and need replacing. Check this by inserting the sector gear into the housing and try to wiggle it in the housing at both ends. If there's any perceivable slop, the bushings need replaced. Every once in a great while I will come across a sector with truly nice bushings that fit the new gear shaft perfectly, no bind yet no slop. In those cases I don't replace the bushings because there's no point.


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One of the original bushings that I removed is on the left while one of the new replacement bushings is on the right. New '32-'34 bushings are not available. All that is available is 78- part number bushings for '37 and later. The new bushings are the same outside and inside diameter, they are just 1/4” shorter. They work just fine.


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The new bushings are installed into the sector housing. The outer bushing is installed about 1/4” down into the hole because the housing is going to be machined for a push-in lip seal. There's no point in installing the bushing at the edge of the hole then machining part of it away. The inner bushing is installed as normal. Sometimes the bushings are a good tight fit in the housing, sometimes they are a little loose. In this case the outer bushing fit tight while the inner didn't so red Loctite was applied to the inner bushing before installing it. With the bushings installed I dropped off the sector housing and new gear at our machinist, Benders Automotive in Covina, CA, to have the bushings honed to fit the shaft on the gear.


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In the bottom of the main (worm) housing there is a cup for the lower worm bearing. Whether it is in good reusable condition or not I always remove it during the cleaning process. The cup sits on a stepped ledge which creates a cavity underneath it where grit and crap can build up. If the housing is being bead blasted it's also inevitable that glass beads will find their way in there. I find that it is impossible to get this cavity cleaned enough with the bearing cup in place that I feel comfortable with it.


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The top machined surface of the worm housing gets very lightly dressed with a mill file to ensure that it is reasonably flat and free of burrs. The idea here is to dress the surface without removing much material because it can alter the dimensions of the housing.


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The lower seal plate surface is dressed flat with a mill file. It is critical that this surface is flat to prevent oil leaks after the steering gear is completed.


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The surface where the sector housing attaches is also dressed with a mill file, ever so slightly, to ensure there are no burrs.


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The underside of the upper bearing retainer cap is ground flat on our large grinding disc. This part is especially susceptible to getting warped over time.


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This is as far as I have gotten. I am going to hold off bead blasting and prepping the rest of the parts until I get the honed sector housing back and get it machined for the modern seal. I don't want the rest of the parts sitting around in the meantime freshly bead blasted and starting to surface rust, especially with the unusually humid weather we've been having.


Stay tuned!

 

Very nice pickup.

 

Dennis, this just gets better and better... Thanks for all the detailed writing. I am debating my own steering gear situation right now on my 39 GMC. The stock gear is the worm and sector type, just like this but is a 16:1 ratio. A common upgrade is to swap in a 41-46 gear which is direct bolt in that is the recirculating ball type. I'm tempted to rebuild the stock gear and see how it performs rather than assume it's not good enough. Do you have any experience with the early recirculating ball type steering boxes?

 

neeter'n a skeeters peter

 

Glad you are enjoying my truck thread!

I have zero experience with vintage GM vehicles so I have no valuable input to offer you regarding your '39 GMC.

 

Good stuff! I am getting a '33/'34 box for my coupester, this info will come in handy. While they will be arranged differently, I am using almost all the same components as you on my coupester. I sent you a pm regarding your 13/1 worm and sector.

 

The pics and text, both are first class. It's stuff like this, much of it not glamorous to many but so important to how the final product, a great driving hotrod will perform.

Thanks again for taking the time to document and share your years of knowledge, this tech. thread will help countless enthusiasts for countless years to come...great stuff.

 

Excellent, awesome thread. Thank you for providing us with this information. I began using Lincoln brakes on my Fords in the 1970s and I use the self adjusting parts. They adjust the shoes evenly and I never have to adjust them manually. My cars are high mileage and the self adjusters make life better. View attachment 2945270

 

Enjoying this Dennis....

 

Dennis you should figure out how to convert this to a paperback book. I would pay good money to have this info in a form that can't go away. I'm sure Ryan and Tardel would know the "how to"

 

Tag. Not sure how I missed this build.

--louis

 

UPDATE

At the same time that I'm working on the steering gear I'm also getting all of the work done that I need to in the cowl-area of the cab. That way when I get the steering gear all finished I can bolt it back in solid to the frame and dashboard.

Anyone who's ever had one of these early Ford trucks knows that on hot days the roof acts like a big heat soak and without anything between your head and metal roof the heat just radiates right down on top of you. That being the case, I plan to fully sound dampen and insulate the cab to make it more comfy to ride in. The rest of the cab can wait a while but I needed to get the cowl area done so that I can install the kick panels, gauge panel and dash board. Yesterday and today I did just that. Thankfully, we a have a box of leftover Dynamat sheets, insulation and glue from previous cars that we have built. The process is pretty straight forward. The Dynamat is cut to size and applied to larger flat areas to absorb and dampen noise on a large panel and gets rid of the "tin can" sound. The insulation is then cut and glued to block out heat transfer and further helps to dampen noise. Once all of the insulation is glued in there is a heat reflective aluminum tape that is used to cover all of the seams.

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Next I will be modifying the gauge hole sizes in the instrument panel to fit the Stewart Warner gauges. Once that is complete I can install the instrument panel and dash board and work in the cowl area will be done and ready to receive the steering gear/column when it's completed.

 

I apologize to those who pm'ed about the self adjusters. Heres the picture. I used the self adjuster parts from the BIG (only) 71-76 Chevy Station wagons. I got smallparts kits from the auto parts store except for the long arm shown on this picture. I used the arms off of a mid 70s El Camino. They are too short, so I cut them and welded in pieces to get the right length. Out of focus pic. Sorry

 

Love this thread, I'm watching!!

 

Dennis. Is the 2.5 drop on the axle for a reason? Rather than a 2 or 3 inch drop.

 

According to Greg Haynes who dropped the axle, beyond 2.5" is when the shape of the ends starts to distort and get inconsistent. He can do 3" but doesn't recommend it for aesthetic reasons.

 

As Dennis mentioned, Greg doesn't like going over 2 1/2" due to the shape distortion in the dropped area. That drop is 2 1/2" over stock (which on a '32 axle is 2 1/2" to start with), so you arrive at 5" total.

I know a lot of guys do nice work dropping axles, but Greg's 2 1/2" dropped '32 axle is the best I've seen.....

 

Before I sent my axle to Greg I measured the factory drop by putting a steel straight edge on the top of the kingpin boss and measured down from the straight edge to the spring perch boss. My axle measured 1 -7/8". Greg dropped it exactly 2 -1/2" and it now measures 4 -3/8". I have measured stock '32 axles anywhere from 1 -3/4" to 2" factory drop but 1 -7/8" seems to be the most common. I don't know if how I'm measuring is the industry standard but that's what makes the most sense to me.

I agree that Greg does the best work that I have seen. We have had customers send us dropped axles (to do the spindle and tie rod set up) done by another popular dropper and every single one of them needed the kingpin and spring perch holes fixed. So on top of the cost involved in dropping the axle plus several different UPS trips the customer had to pay us a couple hours labor to make the axle usable. I have never had to fix any of the axles that came from Greg.

It makes me wonder how many people have gotten back dropped axles with sloppy kingpin and/or spring perch holes and just ran them...

 

Dennis, that is one "Cherry" pickup cab. Great write up for us old guys!

 

UPDATE

Last Friday I finished up the installation of the gauge panel, gauges and dashboard but the Boss had the camera so I couldn't take pictures until today.

The original gauges were replaced with a new set of Stewart Warner. I opened up the holes in my original painted commercial gauge panel for them to fit. The dash light switch was moved to the upper right hole. The lower middle hole under the speedometer is going to be filled with a vintage looking red jewel light which will function as a "low oil pressure" warning light. I have a sender on the way, too. I decided on the warning light because I didn't want any additional gauges or other things hanging from the bottom of the dashboard. Not a big fan of that.

I'm very happy with how the new dash treatment looks.

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Out of curiosity, why would you put a volt meter in the panel and not oil pressure? Or am I missing something?

 

Read again Dick. he wants the warning light instead

 

Actually, this is something I've been planning on my next build. Install a small direct oil pressure gauge at the front of the 283 engine galley plug, and an idiot light on the dash. Takes up less space on the dash.

 

My bad, I figured I had to be missing something.

 

I came back to answer the question and you guys took care of it for me, haha!

Yeah there's nowhere on the dash panel to put another gauge and I'm just not a big fan of hanging extra stuff off of the bottom of the dash. Not always, but most of the time I feel like it looks like an after thought and cluttered. I definitely didn't want to be flying totally blind, though. So, if the little red light ever goes on, time to stop and call the hook!

I've already got the fittings needed and there will be a tee with a plug on the engine where the pressure switch for the light installs. That will allow me to pull the plug and hook up a gauge if I ever want to verify the pressure. Like when I first get the engine fired.

 

So to check fuel level you just wrap your knuckles on the seat base and listen for an echo?

 

The fuel gauge hasn't been functional since my Dad bought the truck so I've become accustomed to checking the tank with a stick. It's not a big deal to me cause I don't know any different. As I get used to driving the truck with the SBC I'll also get used to how far it will go on a tank of gas and be able to estimate when it's time to fill up.

 

I had a hard time hogging the holes in my dash for my SW wings gauges, it was one of those non reversible things, but once I set the gauges in it, I realized, I would never be going back anyways.

 

Well, there is this.
You might have to relocate your tank though.

 

My Dad accused me of being a butcher but I did it with a big smile on my face. Only problem with that was I got metal shavings stuck in my teeth