Woo hooo!!! My truck actually steers! Having never so much as seen one of these before I bought it, let alone having driven one, I had no standard by which to judge the steering on mine other than it was crap. There was serious play at the steering wheel which meant every bump and shimmy required about eight inches of steering, the first four of which did little or nothing and the second four graunched the road wheels about a bit. Manoeuvring at parking speed was a hugely physical struggle that normally left me dripping with sweat and parked at some strange angle compared to everybody else... well... something had to be done.
I bought a used, but useable, box from a guy in Illinois - two days later it was here in England, a week later after clearing customs, it was with me.
It felt okay, but the adjuster was wound in and it looked like a strip and clean wouldn't do any harm.
On stripping it I found one of the nylon bearing cages had broken up, but the worm and roller were in fine condition.
I stripped my existing box and luckily one of the cages was still intact.
I renewed all the balls, found a couple of generic metric seals that I managed to fit and flushed the casing clean.
Putting it all back together is about as simple a rebuild as you can find - there really is bugger all to these things.
I spent an hour or so shimming the end float, no factory tools, so I went with feel - took a while.
Refitted the cross shaft and cover with a home made gasket.
There was some surface wear on the bearing races, but this is a steering box on a truck that it is unlikely to cover many miles - it's not a motor with a shaft spinning at high r.p.m. so I didn't consider it a problem.
I've filled the box with steering fluid, but if it finds its way out I may go to a liquid grease. For now tho', we have no leaks.
Whilst it was all out I flushed out and greased the column bearing which had been a bit rough, rebuilt the indicator (flasher) switch and made a spacer for under the steering wheel.
So what's it drive like? Absolutely transformed it. I no longer brace myself when I see oncoming trucks, or panic when I use the brakes or have to take a hand to change gear. Yes, it still wanders, but that's a characteristic of the beam axle and cart springs, but I can correct it now with a gentle one handed pressure on the wheel.
So chuffed.
It's not perfect, but probably as good as you will get. I doubt the wear on the races will affect it, I did try to find complete new bearings but failed dismally as none of the suppliers I contacted could get anywhere near them. Over here or over there. Simple satisfying job, but you will need a pitman arm puller, thankfully a Dart owning friend was good enough to lend me his. Total cost including shipping and customs was about $300 - value wise, probably the best $300 I'll ever spend on it.
The bearings and oil seals I bought ($10?), and the condition of the worm and roller in my existing box compared to the replacements. The originals had nearly worn to points in places and had sharp edges, not surprising as the box was full of California sand when I got it...
I bought a used, but useable, box from a guy in Illinois - two days later it was here in England, a week later after clearing customs, it was with me.
It felt okay, but the adjuster was wound in and it looked like a strip and clean wouldn't do any harm.
On stripping it I found one of the nylon bearing cages had broken up, but the worm and roller were in fine condition.
I stripped my existing box and luckily one of the cages was still intact.
I renewed all the balls, found a couple of generic metric seals that I managed to fit and flushed the casing clean.
Putting it all back together is about as simple a rebuild as you can find - there really is bugger all to these things.
I spent an hour or so shimming the end float, no factory tools, so I went with feel - took a while.
Refitted the cross shaft and cover with a home made gasket.
There was some surface wear on the bearing races, but this is a steering box on a truck that it is unlikely to cover many miles - it's not a motor with a shaft spinning at high r.p.m. so I didn't consider it a problem.
I've filled the box with steering fluid, but if it finds its way out I may go to a liquid grease. For now tho', we have no leaks.
Whilst it was all out I flushed out and greased the column bearing which had been a bit rough, rebuilt the indicator (flasher) switch and made a spacer for under the steering wheel.
So what's it drive like? Absolutely transformed it. I no longer brace myself when I see oncoming trucks, or panic when I use the brakes or have to take a hand to change gear. Yes, it still wanders, but that's a characteristic of the beam axle and cart springs, but I can correct it now with a gentle one handed pressure on the wheel.
So chuffed.
It's not perfect, but probably as good as you will get. I doubt the wear on the races will affect it, I did try to find complete new bearings but failed dismally as none of the suppliers I contacted could get anywhere near them. Over here or over there. Simple satisfying job, but you will need a pitman arm puller, thankfully a Dart owning friend was good enough to lend me his. Total cost including shipping and customs was about $300 - value wise, probably the best $300 I'll ever spend on it.
The bearings and oil seals I bought ($10?), and the condition of the worm and roller in my existing box compared to the replacements. The originals had nearly worn to points in places and had sharp edges, not surprising as the box was full of California sand when I got it...