Steering box - forgot a ball bearing!

[Boonjooce]

So after rebuilding an 80 series steering box and reinstalled it I found a lone ball bearing!

So it must only have 43 balls in there. Is this a problem and should I pull it apart and put the last ball bearing in? Eg will it cause “slop”?

Pain the ass!

Cheers

 

[Saito]

Got one in a baggie that I found once I cleaned the drip pan that I pulled the box apart in. Seems to be fine w/o it.

 

[LandLocked93]

Yeah it will work w/o all the balls. But it will exhibit a balls worth of 'slop' which could manifest as a tiny dead spot or a few mm of lack of response.
I ran mine missing 3 balls for a little while.
Eventually went with 44120-60180 to replace the balls, power piston, upper valving area, and worm gear w/o having to worry about losing the new balls.

 

[haganLX45096]

Yeah it will work w/o all the balls. But it will exhibit a balls worth of 'slop' which could manifest as a tiny dead spot or a few mm of lack of response.
I ran mine missing 3 balls for a little while.
Eventually went with 44120-60180 to replace the balls, power piston, upper valving area, and worm gear w/o having to worry about losing the new balls.

Landlocked... glad I found this. i have the LX450 and need to replace mine (failed attempt at the 105 update). See picture and my stupid a$$ not putting the balls back in correctly (3rd time I had to pop it open to correct leaks) marred the worm gear.

Any idea what the difference between 60180 and 60190 is? Also in replacing the complete kit did you have any issues with fitment? In rebuilding mine to update to the 105 shaft I had a very hard time getting the Teflon gasket to fit past the break in the piston housing. Just worried about having same issues with brand new part.

 

[CharlieS]

The teflon ring on the power piston fit is a common issue (from my reading). I've only rebuilt one power steering box so far myself. The new o-ring under the teflon ring causes the teflon ring to spring outward making it more of a challenge (assuming you replace both the teflon ring and the o-ring). Some people releive that razor sharp edge in the housing to ease insertion. I used a rounded tool to carefully compress the teflon seal as I eased it past that edge. I also used liberal amounts of ATF to lubricate it.

Please share more details about the situation that caused the worm gear damage!

 

[haganLX45096]

The teflon ring on the power piston fit is a common issue (from my reading). I've only rebuilt one power steering box so far myself. The new o-ring under the teflon ring causes the teflon ring to spring outward making it more of a challenge (assuming you replace both the teflon ring and the o-ring). Some people releive that razor sharp edge in the housing to ease insertion. I used a rounded tool to carefully compress the teflon seal as I eased it past that edge. I also used liberal amounts of ATF to lubricate it.

Please share more details about the situation that caused the worm gear damage!

yeah the second lip is razor sharp... the freezing everything with a piston ring clamp actually worked great... I was having PTSD and was too lazy to take it out and check the balls. This is all of my own doing. I found a used one but an east coast rig so the case it a mess but just thinking for the price of the used one i can rebuild current one with parts from it. Just not sure what the inside is going to look like.