Picked up the tube from my steering column this morning and grabbed the last bit of hardware. The cap nut for the adjustment screw is to gone to put new threads into, replaced it with a normal nut and still had to run a tap threw it to get it to thread. Made me feel justified in not spending $5 for the acorn nut that would cover the top. I think the tang in the Star washer should keep any garbage out. Or at least good enough considering some of the older boxes didn’t even have a seal on the sector Also shown my fancy bushing hone lol
Alright got the bearing cup/race last night! It’s in the box still but looks great. Seeing as this is the third actual box I’ve physically pulled parts from ( and maybe the 4th or 5th I’ve used parts from ) I’m going to take the easy route to getting the race out. It involves a porta band saw. I’ll make sure we take photos and explain it
I’m either missing a photo or there’s a duplicate but either way I’m sure they are out of order lol basically since I already have a spare box and a lot of people find a junk box with a good race I decided to cut it open to get it and take photos to show you how. Basically you can’t get a drift or anything to the back side of the race to knock it out with out build a weird tool or welding a plate to the race, drifting it out, and then cleaning the race off. But there is a little hollow above the race so we measured how far down it was - also measured how proud of the surface it sits so when we press it into the correct box we know when it’s for sure seated- and took a portaband and cut it open. Snuck up on it with a grinder to make a little more room, just just a hair of heat on it and popped it right out! Took maybe 7 minutes with photos.
Pays to have friends who are pipe fitters. Had my buddy weld up the new column for me. Figure who better to weld pipe then a guy who does it all day. Used about 8 inches of the stock 39 truck column, I think that’s what it is, and welded that to the new tube. Had a few thin spots to repair but I think it’ll be ok. I plan on Being rough with it before it hits the street to make sure it’s sturdy enough just like anything else on the car. Should I feel it needs to be beefier I’ll get all new tube and just chop the bell off the stock ford column. Aaaanyhow. Just need to hone 1 bushing, paint 1 nut 1 washer and the column and it’s all ready to put together! I’m super excited
Well, column is ready to paint in the morning. Rest of the bits got painted this afternoon. Got the bushings 99.999% of the way there. Want to go back and slick them up just a hair more. Aaaaaaand snapped this bearing race I’ve been waiting on in half Tiny tiny little barb in the seat from removing the old race was enough that when we tried to install it it cracked and split. Didn’t even have a lot of pressure on it. Oh well. Not like I can act surprised. The hunt goes on. Should have everything else painted and trimmed tomorrow
No one knows about them then. Stopped production a few years ago. The places like Macs that list them haven’t had them in years don’t know why they don’t charge the catalog/ website to reflect that. I’ve got a new old stock one coming
No horn on this steering wheel means I’ve got a while to plug in the end cap. Drill, tap, fit, cut, file, paint! Sits a hair proud of the inside but it’s about the same as the original little tunnel that was fit there. Could have welded it but like doing it this way.
Oh yeah, took a 3/8 drill to get the little tunnel/insert whatever you want to call it out of the cap. Then I tapped it for 7/16-20
Quick photo of the painted column. Looks like the ID is a little smaller than the box where it’s supposed to slide over. I was planing to slot the tube to make the clamp more effective but now I’m thinking maybe it’ll help let us slide over the box as well
Dang pretty close! did a white/grey/black sealer under to see what differences it would make. It’s got a tiny amount of metallic in it but I don’t think it’s enough to bother me. Might have a winner!
@waxhead I didn’t make the video @Aaron D. Made them, he did videos for his entire build! Just figured you were asking about this stuff so I’d share it all as I went back threw it so you'd see it. But I agree a lot of time and effort went into his videos and they are wonderful
Couple minutes on my way out the door this morning got the column drop/support in place and scuffed the paint in doing so. I’ve already started blocking it back down in this photo. But I mainly took the photo to show that I need to drill threw the clamp hole into/threw the column tube to get the bolt in. Had forgot about this step and have decided to leave it until I’ve mocked it up few times. I don’t want to have that be a stumbling block if I decide it would make life easier if it was 1/2 higher or lower dropped the bushing into the top of the column after making sure it clears the shaft and key way first . Also decided to paint the inside of the bell on the off chance you might see some of it. it dropped down into the tube pretty easy but the slight smaller ID of the new tube won’t let it drop all the way down so that should help in wiggling it into the ideal position later sanded down and masked I’m going to wait to re paint until I’ve got it cut the length and fitting on the box end. Save myself from extra work later if it’s a tight fit right at 8.5 like it was before it all came apart. Just waiting on the new bearing race to come from Minnesota. If it’s not here by the weekend I’ll mock it up with out so I can cut the column tube. I’m thinking I’ll put a 1.25” slit in the bottom of the tube where it slides over the box. Originally I thought it would make the clamp more effective and also help me index the column mast from the box side when I can’t see the bell/wheel etc. But I think it may also be the easy way of getting the slightly smaller ID to fit the box. Thinking I’ll bevel the leading edge of the tube, the box already has a small one I think so it’ll center and slide on better. Guess we’ll find out.
This mornings quick project. As I wait for time/parts in the mail I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to slot this drivers side fender to fit under the steering box bracket. I could just drill it but then I feel like if I wanted to remove the fenders it would be a head ache to pull all the steering off. Or at minimum half the bracket bolts. So I decided to would notch/slot the fender so I can just loosen the bolts a little a slide the fender out from under it. This is how I made a template to do that. first step was finding some card stock. Looks like the back of the fender is pretty square to the edge so I located the card stock off that I put it underneath the end and dotted the center of the holes and noted orientation then used my super handy paper hole punch to make the holes starting to line up where this needs to land thankfully I marked all three of the fender holes because for some reason this frame- maybe all of them? Have a duplicate set drilled just off from the correct set. I used the rear most hole to figure out which set I needed I measured and marked center for the bracket holes sat the board on the edge of the work bench and used a square to draw a line and then mak center- did the same marking the frame marked the holes, punched them ~ slot in the back side is so I could reach that last hole with out throwing my straight edge off~ and tried it on. Looks good! The hole punch is smaller than the bolt holes but it’s not off a ton. I’ll likely bolt or tape this to the fender to mark/guide the two Holes i will drill to start the slots. Thinking I’ll make the hole in the fender somewhere between the diameter of the bolt and the diameter of the head of the bolt to allow for some wiggle room getting it on and adjusted. Then I’ll tape and mark the edges of the slot and cut down the line with a hand held jigsaw into the hole. Figure that makes for a better looking notch and the lack of corners should make it less likely to develop any sort of crack/tear
New bearing race showed up today! Hopefully get it pressed in this weekend but it may be next week. Gotta see how a busy schedule plays out
Just a thought, several years ago when I was a parts guy at CarQuest their computer system could search the inventory of every CQ store in the country as well as the warehouses. From Nevada I found a 1951 Minneapolis Moline tractor head gasket in Ohio.I don't know if they can still do that. O'Reilly has a good search but the counter person has to know about it and contact the real search guy in Missouri. Auto Zone was started with a bunch of NOS parts and a lot of it is still somewhere.
Yeah Napa is generally pretty good about that sort of thing as well. I did end up finding a tractor that uses the same bearing race but the cheapest I came across was $55 plus shipping, I agree that there’s gotta be something out there. Mine came from an obsolete ford shop in Minnesota
Rock Auto has a friendly site that allows you to do a lot of "research" right from home. I just researched nailhead water pumps and was able to confidently order a new one.
Picked up a spare tire bracket - think it’s a drivers side- for the mode A today. Some quick googling looks like I have to create the holes for it to mount. Would have figured they would already be there seeing as they even drilled for steering in both sides! Anyhow this web site seemed to have some handy info so I figured I’d add it here while I had it https://modelagarage.com/service_letter_categories/wheel-spare/ @drdave got any photos of where your bracket passes threw the apron?
~ after further reading it looks like the drivers side should have the holes in the frame I just need to drill the apron. The passenger side doesn’t have the holes. There also seems to be some back and forth weather a drivers side bracket will work on the passenger side or not. I think possibly it’s a stock vs aftermarket conversation happening there. I need to figure out if there’s a difference between 28/9 and 30/1 brackets as well. Guess it’s stuff to google while I wait for time to work on the steering box.
Looks like 28/9 is the same on each side 30/31 which is different has a different one of each side. Thankfully the 28/9 is visually different than the 30/1 to the extent that it’s very easy to tell them apart
I’ll be happy to get a couple pics tomorrow evening...I’m not at home at the moment. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks man I found some measurements from the previously linked website but we all know how that sort of thing goes. Figured I’d look at as many as I can and go from there
Sucker is a lot beefier than I would have thought they would be but it makes enough since the small part bolts to the frame and the arm tapper fits and locks down. I don’t know if it being able to swivel is part of the function? i did notice the center bolt that actually holds the wheel plate on is slotted. I assume to lift the wheel out of the fender a little to get it out or maybe just to account for different tire sizes or spare tire covers? Eventually I’d like a pair of 500/5:25 to sit in the fender spares but be able to bolt a 750 onto the iron should one need pulled from the back. Got a few ideas on how to do that, probably just a lot of mocking it up and I’ll see a solution