fbekholden.com

Thanks Harv. I take it then that as there is only one upper arm part# (74117151) the left and right are the same?

Yep

Cheers,
Harv

Thank you.

Mucking around with brake and fuel lines this week and also continuing with parts painting and some linkage work.

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Decided to start work on steering column. Disassembly and clean and assess and replace as required. There is not much help in the manual on how to go about this so I thought it might be helpful to describe what I did with few photos. First step, use puller to remove pitman arm. I've heard these can be difficult to remove but a bit of tension, a tap with a small hammer and a bit more tension and it came off easy.

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Next, undo the cover bolts and screwing in the adjuster bolt to release the cover. My shaft was in good nick on the two bearing surfaces, but the seal surface needed a bit of a rub with emery paper.

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Lower lever pulls out once small bolt is removed and Selector lever unscrews from bolt on the column casing. There are two rolls of felt making up the lower column seal, and the selectors are held in place by the large spring shown in photo.

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Next, back off the lock nut on the worm bearing adjuster and unscrew the adjuster. Once off, withdraw steering shaft.
I am not going to replace the recirculating ball bearings as there is no noticeable wear in that mechanism, but I am going to replace the two thrust bearing races and seats. Not sure how I'm going to get the seats out and would appreciate any tips.

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Fortunately the upper and lower pitman shaft bushes are well within wear limits so I will leave them in place.

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More rust! The gear shift control tube slid out once I removed the top felt seal, and once revealed, showed a degree of rust that was becoming familiar in Wilma. That's it in pieces before and after a bit of sanding. Next job will be working out how to get those worm thrust bearing races out of the housing without making trouble. There's very little of the races to grab onto or to punch. The Rares overhaul kit comes with a gasket that requires trimming to fit and thrust bearings with unimpressive plastic cages and pitman bushes and bottom seal. I may need the pitman shaft bushes for Project 2.

I'm glad I pulled it all apart as the gear shift tube needed rust treatment and the thrust bearings needed renewing, as the races are pitted. Would have still worked ok if I'd just painted it up, but not in spirit of the rest of the restoration not to open it up and make it as good as possible.
Hopefully will post some pics of it going back together in coming days.

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Can’t help you regarding the thrust bearings sorry. The big ticket item is the worm shaft surface which wears in the straight ahead position. This causes slop which can’t be adjusted. If you adjust out the slop in the straight ahead position then you get binding as soon as you turn the wheel.

Another source of slop or play to look for is looseness between the outer column tube and the box where they are riveted together. The rivets can be loose, or the outer tube may even be cracked at the rivet holes.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

Brett,

It looks like you got very lucky with your steering box internals. Pitting on the worm shaft bearing races, you say. I think you can still get replacement bearings. Master parts catalog says the bearing race is 5666683 and the bearing is 5666693, which are Chev part numbers. They should be available in the US, if not here.

I read about a trick to remove bearing races from a housing: arc up the MIG and lay a fillet in the concave part of the bearing race. When the weld cools, it'll shrink the race to the point where it'll fall out. For obvious reasons, obtain replacement bearings and races first.

In what condition are the bearing faces and worm of the steering shaft? Pitting on the bearing faces can be hard-chromed, but if the worm's pitted, game over. If you have to pull the ball-nut off the worm shaft, reassembly is much easier if you use (ahem) &*#@ ball guides and clamp. Henry's engineers put holes in the ball guides, so you put the ball guides in place first and then just drop the balls in until the circuits are full. And last time I did up a steering box, I used CV joint grease.

Rob

Thanks Rob, Clay good advice from you both. I can't feel any roughness on the ball races assembly thingy so I think I'm good there; but I'll have another look tomorrow and pull apart if there's any doubt. I was thinking that I would tack weld or silver solder a washer on to the bearing races and use the washer as a surface to then drift them off. I've got three spare steering assemblies, so if it all goes pear shaped I've got contingencies. I've got the bearings ready to replace too.


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Brett,

Gently wind the ball-nut to the extreme end of its range in both directions to inspect the surface of the worm.

Rob

Ah, yes I did that today and all looked smooth and shiny. Of course I can't see what the inside bit looks like, but movement is smooth.

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