Early steering box rebuild

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JJS said:
splitshot, I've got a minitruck PS box on a pedestal for a 40 kicking around my rundown shop. Shipping would probably kill the deal, though.
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:hhmm:El Jeffe, when are you moving to the Phoenix area, you could bring it with you ;)

I think when I toss in RHINO's old 2f I'll do the conversion then. But for now, this will give me some time to stash some $$.
 
1 3/4" play at the wheel is the best I can do on this one (not too bad, the box in the truck is 9").

The play increases out at the ends, I assume this is normal.

I guess it's time to pull the original and see if I can bring it down to the 1" range, (being un-molested I have a feeling it actually has some shims left).
 
splitshot said:
1 3/4" play at the wheel is the best I can do on this one (not too bad, the box in the truck is 9").

The play increases out at the ends, I assume this is normal.

I guess it's time to pull the original and see if I can bring it down to the 1" range, (being un-molested I have a feeling it actually has some shims left).
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Did you remove the shim? How much adjustment do you have in the bolt? It's normal for it to be tighter in the center. Is that play only to first movement of the pitman?
 
Tools R Us said:
Did you remove the shim?
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Yes, but I ended up with more play without it, acted like the roller went past the center of the worm without it. Is that possible?

Tools R Us said:
How much adjustment do you have in the bolt?
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Little to nothing, even after removing the cover gasket.

Tools R Us said:
It's normal for it to be tighter in the center. Is that play only to first movement of the pitman?
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Yes, not too bad eh?

Edit:
Boy, (nice job John), hope you can read this mess :D
 
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Tools R Us said:
Did you remove the shim?
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splitshot said:
Yes, but I ended up with more play without it, acted like the roller went past the center of the worm without it. Is that possible?
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Yes it's possible and not desirable. If you want to continue polishing a turd, making the shim thinner, like on a belt sander would probably reduce the play.

Tools R Us said:
Is that play only to first movement of the pitman?
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splitshot said:
Yes, not too bad eh?
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That amount of play isn't bad, may even be close to or in spec for an early unit, but this box looks to have more wear than the box in your truck. I would take that one apart, tighten it up and see if you get better results. Probably a better waste of your time!:hillbilly::wrench:
 
splitshot said:
1 3/4" play at the wheel is the best I can do on this one (not too bad, the box in the truck is 9")...
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Just to make sure you're reminded of this fact:

Rebuilding a spare manual steering box = turd polishing :D;

Rebuilding a spare manual steering box AND then rebuilding the manual steering box that was in the truck = extreme psycho turd polishing :flipoff2:

I didn't make this up, it's verbatim from the authority on this board. :grinpimp:
 
DSRTRDR said:
all the while, I heard
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
"this is turd polishing - get power steering"
:lol:
I was told, if I were even thinking of rebuilding that spare now, it would be "extreme psycho turd polishing" :eek: :lol:
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Tools R Us said:
It's turd polishing,,,, get power steering!;p:hillbilly:

That said if your really into turd polishing, the bearings are probably easily available from the local bearing house.:D
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Tools R Us said:
Yes it's possible and not desirable. If you want to continue polishing a turd, making the shim thinner, like on a belt sander would probably reduce the play.
Click to expand...

ChaseTruck said:
Just to make sure you're reminded of this fact:

Rebuilding a spare manual steering box = turd polishing :D;

Rebuilding a spare manual steering box AND then rebuilding the manual steering box that was in the truck = extreme psycho turd polishing :flipoff2:

I didn't make this up, it's verbatim from the authority on this board. :grinpimp:
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:rolleyes::D;) Ok, ok, I get it....I got it....I can live with it....


But don't ask me to put Psyco Turd Polisher on my sig line....

Not gonna happen:hillbilly:
 
Yep, we,ve cut our employees hours back to 30/wk, just so we wouldn't have to resort to lay-offs. I think it's short lived though, Az in the past, usually springs back fairly quickly.
 
How I didn't end up in the ER on Saturday is beyond me. Walked right by this dude..
Yikes-2.webp
 
Ok, back to box #2. Look what I found for shims:bounce::bounce2:.

Bad news when it came to the roller, I was wondering where that "jump" came from when I turned from right to left.:frown: Time to order a new roller kit and go from there.
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Okay. You're now officially worse than Claudia and me. We only thought about rebuilding the other box. You actually did it.

:D
 
Tools R Us said:
Nice snake, how did it taste?:hillbilly:

Where are the pieces broken off from?
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It's in the freezer till I decide if it's worth messing with.;)

Those pieces came off the roller gear, it looks like the outer edge is coming apart. Everything else is in better shape than the first box. I'm placing an order with sor today so should be able to get it back together by the end of the week.

One of the many reasons I love working on the 40, I had the box out and was tearing it down within an hour. Easy once the fender goes away.
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splitshot said:
...
Those pieces came off the roller gear, it looks like the outer edge is coming apart.
...
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IIRC the outer edges of of the roller don't touch anything, so don't matter to the performance of the box?
 
Tools R Us said:
IIRC the outer edges of of the roller don't touch anything, so don't matter to the performance of the box?
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The pic doesn't show it, but there is a chunk missing on the leading edge also.

ChaseTruck said:
...unless the knuckle steering stops are wrong? As in you run out of box before you run out of space at the knuckle?
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I see what your getting at, good point. I'll check that out when I get everything back in the truck.
 
:cool:, no more :steer::bounce::bounce2: I've got a little play in the center arm that doesn't want to come out, but the box is tighter than a mouse's ear!

I could have done the whole job for about $50~ if I didn't have to buy the roller. Another cool thing, is I still have the big washer and two of the smaller shims in there, that should give me another 40 years :D

This did not go quite as smooth as I had planned, so here are a couple of pointers at my expense.

Use the sector shaft (with the shims still on it) and a rubber mallet to drive in the oil seal. Luckily I had a spare seal:o. It lines everything up nicely with the bronze bushing.

Toss those old bolts that hold the box to the pedestal and replace them with a new longer model before one breaks and you end up removing it the hard way (pic incl.-there was only one thread to get that nut on).
And don't forget to chase all that old goo out of the holes.
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