fbekholden.com

Hi folk,
currently re-fitting the reconditioned steering box back into my old bus and have run into a problem.
All is good up to the point of reassembling the gear lever support (honeypot) and fitting the two dampers and spring.
I set the upper steering shaft bearing to within spec (2.21 - 2.27", or 56.13 - 57.66mm) and fitted the dampers into the honey pot.
When I prise open the dampers to run down the outside of the steering column - I can't get the honeypot to go far enough for the three bolts to reach the holes in the steering column.
Even with the bearing holder to its maximum depth - the holes are still at least 3 mm further along the column.

I could run without these dampers - I do not use the gearshift... but, it's annoying the heck out of me as to why that honeypot will not go down...

Is there a trick to fitting the dampers - prior to fitting the honeypot to the column, or post?
Also, the steel damper arms are fitted as far into the slot of the honeypot .... it's the part of them towards the steering box making contact with the cut-out at the top of the steering column which is preventing the honeypot going far enough down to fit the three bolts....

Any suggestions? - other than to run without these dampers....?

I might shoot up some pix and post them later.. about to go back out and have another go, spent over two hours on these silly things already... and have got nothing else done for the day..... grrrrr!

frats,
Rosco

Ok folk,
problem solved. Roger Hancock emailed me back after I fired off an email to him stating that I couldn't get the dampers back in...

If you have the EK workshop manual, you'll see exactly where I went wrong.... in the diagram on page 8 of section 7 - you'll see that it shows it below the upper bearing retainer.. and illustrates that it is fitted below the frame of the honey-pot (well, it did to me).

Roger sent me the service bulletin number H175-G dated May, 1961 which shows a much better pic of the dampers in place.... above the gear lever support (honeypot)....

This means that the honeypot can be fully installed and torqued up to 5 ft/lbs before the damper assembly is fitted ... and then the spring slipped in to hold the two dampers in place.

2 hours of frustration wasted - at present, I have all the components back in and wiring passed down through the steering column to under the dash.... it all comes back out tomorrow so that I can fit the dampers..

I took a zillion pix in "macro" today - trying to fathom out why the blasted damper plates were fouling the honeypot from seating low enough to align the upper bearing/column holes... grrrrr

If you have the workshop manual - I'd suggest making a note in there that the dampers fit above the frame of the honeypot - not below it.

I'll bang up some pix tomorrow to show the difference - before and after, if you like.....

frats,
Rosco

cheers Rosco - be interested to see the pics mate

Ok folk,
series of pix here... taken due to frustration at not being able to get the dampers in "below" the honeypot.
First three are of the dampers - illustrating the special legs and cut-outs obviously made to both key into the honeypot and clear the components around the steering column..
When fitted "below" the honeypot -they actually make sense... but won't allow it to move down sufficiently for the three bearing retainer bolts to be located in the corresponding holes of the steering shaft.

Pix show all this - including one where you can see my frustration at how close the holes missed by.

The second last pic shows the honeypot fitted without the dampers and how much clearance there is between where I tried to fit the dampers and the steering column.

I'll fit these dampers today and show them in their correct position later..

Pix..

frats,
Rosco

Hi folk,
promised I'd be back tonight..... dampers now in.... it took all of 10 seconds to fit the springs and fit the dampers over the steering column.... grrrrr! that's two hours from yesterday I won't get back...

Pix showing the dampers in the correct position... hopefully, this will save some of you an awful lot of frustration... just remember to alter your workshop manuals...

Pix...
frats,
Rosco

Put it down to character building Rosco, as if you didn’t have enough already.
Cheers
Clay


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Heading down to the shed now to amend my manual. We are all in your debt once again. It has been a vey long time since I fiddled with one of these. I hope it won’t be so long before the need arises again because that will mean I’ve graduated from cutting, welding and grinding.


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