[TR] TR3 Steering Box Rebuild

[Michael Lang]

David,

Thanks for the info on the reproduction parts. I had wondered what the
quality was like. I decided to stick with the one good split shaft box
that I have. Out of the three boxes that I disassembled, there was one
where the peg fell right out of the hole in the pitman shaft. The one
that I re-used was nice a tight. I knocked it out with a punch, gave it
a quarter of a turn and put it back in so that it had a new wear
surface. I was getting pretty good at pulling pitman arms by the time I
took the third box apart.

Here is one observation that I had about the two boxes that were totally
shot. The outer tube had been dented on both at some point. Probably
during accidents. I think the dents caused enough miss-alignment to
cause the bearings on the ends of the worm to fail.

Randall,

Thanks for publishing the instructions for rebuilding a steering box.
The use of the dial indicator took a lot of the guess work out for a
first-timer like myself. I now have clean and tight steering box. Like
you, I ended up with a couple of snug spots a little off center when
adjusting the depth of the peg in the worm. Not so bad that it would be
worth the money and trouble to install a new worm. I got a good look at
the mounting brackets as I was removing the box from the parts car. It
doesn't look like it should be very difficult to fabricate the one that
is welded to the suspension tower. A couple of holes and captive nuts in
the firewall should take care of the other one.

Mike


DLylis at aol.com wrote:
> Mike,
> I have just gone through this exercise and can offer a neophytes  opinion.  
> Randall is by far the greater authority as he helped me out with  issues 
> through the process.
> 1.  If you have original usable parts, use them.  This is what I  found with 
> reproduction parts.  The worm is supposed to present  slight resistance in 
> steering at straight ahead and loosen as you go right  and left.  The repro worm 
> is slightly cone shaped.  That is not  correct although I was able to get it 
> to perform well through  very detailed box adustment.  
> 2.  The peg is supposed to be a press fit in the rocker shaft.   (both repro 
> parts) I initially put it in and it fell out.  I have resolved  that as well.  
> 3.  When I had the old worm removed from the shaft it came off with no  
> damage, so had it not been chipped, it would have been reusable should I  have been 
> facing a situation as you describe. 
>  
> David  Lylis
> 69 TR6 CC26160L
> 60 TR3A TS74461LO