73+ Manual Steering Box Rebuild (attempt) (1 Viewer)

[BeerM3]

One upside to the Coronavirus pandammit is I've found some time to get into shelved projects like this one. My '76 still has the leaky, greasy manual steering gear and while I might upgrade to power steering in the future, I don't mind it. It's good for the forearms. I got a donor from @airon23 last August that has been waiting and I can still drive around while I work on its potential replacement. Coolerman has a great writeup on earlier boxes here, and this was another for later boxes that I found but I figured it'd be fun and educational to document my first attempt at resurrecting one of these things. What could go wrong?

I've attached the relevant pages from the FSM for anyone that wants it.

The patient: Disassembled and gutted.

 

[BeerM3]

I tagged and bagged the shims and kept the bearings separated as instructed.

 

[BeerM3]

The gasket for the sector shaft cover came off in one piece, but for only a couple bucks I can get a new one from Toyota, so I figure I might as well do it right. I was surprised to find out that the shims double as the gasket for the worm cover.

Placed an order with the local Toyota dealer. Everything is still available as of this posting, but it may be awhile before I can pick them up once they arrive.

Sector Seal: 90311-32014
Sector Gasket: 45332-36010
Worm Seal: 90311-18010
and the breather plug cap was damaged on this one, even though it would probably function just fine I decided to order new because I like shiny stuff
Breather plug: 90930-03058

Next up; cleaning.

 

[BeerM3]

I set the sector shaft and worm aside for a wipe down with brake cleaner. Everything else got a good scrubbing with some diluted degreaser after scraping off the biggest chunks.

Cleaned, rinsed and dried. I also have a carb heat shield to replace the missing one currently not on my engine. Figured I might as well get it started too.

 

[FixedIt]

Love it. You convinced me it’s next on my list.

 

[BeerM3]

I sprayed the worm assembly with brake cleaner and wiped down the gear as I ran it back and forth several times. I'm starting to question if I should have done that because it continued to pick up oil from the bearing "box" that rides on it. I did heed the FSM warning to not take that apart, and it does ride nice and smooth with no signs of anything broken internally.

Next up is a close inspection of the bearing races and shaft races. It felt pretty tight before I took it apart, but even with the actual special service tools I suspect those would be a #*%@ to replace. Fingers crossed!

 

[BeerM3]

Bearings and races look good to me. No signs of chipping or pitting.

 

[BeerM3]

I carefully popped out the old seals. The sector shaft race closest to the pitman doesn't leave a big margin of error to avoid nicking it.

 

[BeerM3]

Next on the FSM checklist is verifying we have no more than 0.1mm of clearance from shaft to race. Sector shaft cover race: 31.89. Sector Shaft: 32.00. I'm gonna call that close enough for my needs and my cheapo calipers.

 

[BeerM3]

Clearance on the pitman side: 32.02 for the bushing and shaft reads around 32.00 and 32.01. I suspect it's not actually that tight but again, good enough for me.

 

[BeerM3]

Last clearance test; see if there's still less than 0.10mm clearance between the sector shaft and the head of the adjustment screw. Toyota made 5 different thicknesses of thrust washer shims listed in the FSM if you're over the limit. Drumroll.....and 0.08 was the thickest feeler gauge I could slip through there, so I'm ready to reassemble this thing! Well....once my new seals and gasket come in. And once Toyota's open again. Nothing like an old fashioned quarantine to slow things up.

 

[BeerM3]

While I wait on replacement seals I gave it a POR15 makeover. Since I'm going back to a stock exhaust manifold I'm also adding back the missing heat shield courtesy (with a small donation) of Mark's Offroad.

all dressed up with no place to go

 

[airon23]

Wow that thing's come a long way. Looking really good.

 

[BeerM3]

Alright. The pandemic isn't over but the parts store is back in business. So I have everything I need to finish the job annnnnnnnd I'm stuck. At the risk of exposing myself as a gearbox rebuild noob and shade tree mechanic at best, I don't want to screw this up. I doubt I was fooling anyone anyway. The news seals don't have the exposed metal housing and I assume I can safely tap em flush carefully with my seal driver set but 1) should i add a little grease to the outside first to make it easier and 2) I do have these oriented with the right side out..right?

 

[BeerM3]

Bonus points to anyone that can spot what's funny about the sector seal package...

 

[airon23]

made in China?

 

[BeerM3]

made in China?

yup. Genuine Toyota Parts. By Honda. To be fair though I googled it and Koyo has "manufacturing sites in Japan, UK, Europe, China and India"