[TR] control head Q

[Randall]

> Can anyone tell me why I can rotate the control head from 
> side to side on my TR2 project and it also moves when the 
> steering wheel is turned, I nipped up the three grub screws 
> to no avail, it is so long since I re-bulit the unit (5 years 
> ago) I can't remember what locks it in position.

Can't tell you what's wrong, John, but I can tell you how it's supposed to
work.  The 3 grub screws are not involved (they force the canceling ring to
move with the steering wheel).  What is supposed to keep it from turning is
a tube that sticks out the back of the control head assembly, about 4" long
for a fixed wheel or about 12" long for the adjustable.  That tube fits over
a much longer tube, called the stator tube, that runs through the center of
the steering column all the way through the steering box and gets locked to
the front of the steering box with a gland (aka compression sleeve) and nut.
The short tube has dimples in it that engage with a slot in the stator tube.

As noted, some small amount of play is normal depending on how worn the
components are.  If it simply spins without limit (until the wires stop it),
then a broken stator tube is most likely, but it might be a problem with the
gland or it's fitting on the steering box front plate.  On my car, that
fitting was simply staked to the front plate, but maybe others are welded.
Another possibility, if it has never worked, is that you have a mismatched
stator tube & control head (both are different depending on whether the
steering wheel is adjustable or not).  Yet another is that the stator tube
is simply too low in the steering column.

Randall