Hey everyone. Just got into my 1991 FJ80 with 274,000 miles a couple months ago. She has clearly been neglected and I am on my way to fixing her up into an overland/hunting rig.
I've fixed a couple small things but took on a power steering box rebuild and was succesfull.... I think.
The (maybe) big issue is that after reinstalling the gear box and after having driven 50-80 smooth miles, I was cleaning up my work bench and found 1 of the worm gear ball bearings from the steering gearbox.
Yes, I reinstalled everything without ONE missing bearing.
The truck has been running GREAT, no leaks, steering feels tighter, smoother, and more responsive etc. I will say, there is a little bit of play while sitting in park and turning the wheel left and right (maybe 1 inch both directions before the tire starts to turn), and while driving around 45-50mph sometimes I do have to make sure my steering wheel isnt slacking a bit. As i'm writing this I havent adjusted the sector shaft screw on the housing of the gearbox, which I'm told can potentially cut out any slack - I have yet to try that.
If im being honest I would have NEVER noticed that I was missing 1 ball bearing, which leads me to my question....
is this dangerous? Do I need to go back in and open it up just to put that 1 ball bearing in? Will this result in catastrophic consequences to my steering box/ truck? It has been driving just fine and don't want to do a job that isn't entirely necessary.
Sorry for all the questions... just don't want to have to take it back apart if there isn't a need to.
Please be polite, I'm new here and have posted on a forum in my life before.
I've fixed a couple small things but took on a power steering box rebuild and was succesfull.... I think.
The (maybe) big issue is that after reinstalling the gear box and after having driven 50-80 smooth miles, I was cleaning up my work bench and found 1 of the worm gear ball bearings from the steering gearbox.
Yes, I reinstalled everything without ONE missing bearing.
The truck has been running GREAT, no leaks, steering feels tighter, smoother, and more responsive etc. I will say, there is a little bit of play while sitting in park and turning the wheel left and right (maybe 1 inch both directions before the tire starts to turn), and while driving around 45-50mph sometimes I do have to make sure my steering wheel isnt slacking a bit. As i'm writing this I havent adjusted the sector shaft screw on the housing of the gearbox, which I'm told can potentially cut out any slack - I have yet to try that.
If im being honest I would have NEVER noticed that I was missing 1 ball bearing, which leads me to my question....
is this dangerous? Do I need to go back in and open it up just to put that 1 ball bearing in? Will this result in catastrophic consequences to my steering box/ truck? It has been driving just fine and don't want to do a job that isn't entirely necessary.
Sorry for all the questions... just don't want to have to take it back apart if there isn't a need to.
Please be polite, I'm new here and have posted on a forum in my life before.
