I'm working on rebuilding my steering column and gear box. Though my gears seem to mesh together fairly well without too much free travel. IDK if there is a gear wiplash measurement? It doesn't really speak of it in the manual that I see. Either way it doesn't seem like it's great enough to do the off set bushing idea I have read about in a post.
I'd like to replace all the bushing in the gear box as there is a pretty good amount of wiggle to the pitman arm shaft. I have it all apart and have those bushings out. It seems like the shaft measures about .918. The bore of the housing is like around 1.03. Maybe my cheap mic isn't measuring the greatest, IDK. These just seem like odd sizes to me. The steering shaft seems to measure about .757 and the ID of the housing where bushing goes .865. This one at least is a little closer to the bushing being say 3/4in ID and 7/8od, finish reaming once pressed in.
The other bushing I am curious about is the upper mast bushing/bearing I'll call it. It is a steel housing with like a dense packing material. The steering column shaft at this point is only measuring .747, leading me to believe the shaft tapers somewhat already at this point to the end were it's tapered for the steering wheel hub. Question is are there bronze bushing kits out there for the rebuild? I was looking in McMaster and all the oillite bushings are in increments that wouldn't quite fit without machining. Also the bushings I took out have a spiral oil groove to let lube to weep in. IDK how important that would be if using oillite?
I'd also need to do my king pins and bushings. I've found quite a bit on this with my searches. I'd like to think I could save some money by getting bolts and bushings from MM verses buying the kit which I think runs over a hundred dollars. Am I all wet? I don't have a lathe unless I went and bought a small one, so I would have to take all my machining to a shop. Go easy on me :) Thanks, David
You can best determine the actual worm gear to sector gear clearance after you have eliminated all the excessive shaft to bushing clearances.
I am not familiar with the details of a 28 steering gear. I know that some of the Chevy steering gears use floating bushings. They are a slip fit into the bores in the housing and over the shaft. They are not reamed to size. I am sure there are some '28 experts on Chat who can provide more details about what bushings are needed. I agree that they are probably not standard or catalog size bushings.
The shop manual might help you determine exactly what bushings are needed and how they are installed.
There is a key point to remember about these old steering gear boxes. They often have very basic seals if any. They require a higher viscosity gear oil that will not flow out through the clearances. On the other hand the oil must flow enough to lubricate the gear mesh.
A key reason that these old steering boxes are so worn is that the gear lube did eventually leak out of them. Operating them dry would take its toll. Filling the gear box with chassis lube did not solve the problem.
Were you having excessive play in the steering wheel? Was the arm turning with the wheel or was there a good bit of play? I would work it backwards by taking care of any play by the wheels then up to the box. I am far from an expert on these vintage vehicles, but the principles are basically the same as the system in my GTO.
Hey Chevygoat, this is a nut and bolt restoration. Everything that needs changing is getting changed. IDK if there was excessive play or not, nor do I think one could tell with rusty bolts inside of bushings, pasty grease inside the gearbox, etc. Once I got the gear box and parts degreased and bead blasted it is obvious there is too much play in the bushings that hold the pitman arm shaft in. Anyone else rebuilt one of these gearboxes before?
I talked to a machinist friend the other day. He thought it would take him half the day to make the bushings I would need. He wouldn't be able to do it for free so there would be several hundred dollars chewed up in short order. Can't say he's a close friend, more of an acquaintance. Gary Wallace doesn't have what I need. He has the thrust bearings (pretty pricey to but I don't think I need those) As of now I am thinking of buying the stock from McMaster and trying to find an inexpensive miny lathe. Then I might as well make all my own bushings for everything. The only thing that concerns me on the pitman shaft bearings is they had a 'spiral lube groove' inside of them.
I would not be concerned about the spiral lube groove.
Is there a trade school near you? This would make a great project for one of the students. Turning bushings takes some skill. It is pretty tricky to get a thin wall concentric bushing out of soft material like brass.
Hello, Bluezone covered the steering box renovation in detail some years back. This is the thread https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php...ut-of-1925-30steering-box.html#Post52194 , but the pictures are missing. The important part is making one bushing with 1" thread externally towards the housing of the box and the inner hole to the shaft excentric so that the clearance will be adjustable. Have a look into that. Stig
Stig I have seen that post many times and the pictures as well. My problem as I stated at the beginning isn't at that point so much. What I am trying to come up with a solution to is bushings for the pitman arm shaft. I measured my pitman arm shaft some more and where it rides in the outer bushing (closest to pitman arm) the shaft is a few thousands less than where it rides by the inner. The lube I cleaned out of box was totally stiff sludge. This beast hasn't been driven in who knows how long, but my guess is when it was driven not much care went into the steering gearbox. IDK if I could true up the outer part of the shaft enough and make two different size bushings. I suppose as long as I didn't get smaller than the threads that hold the arm on one would be fine. David
Lathe bought. Now some additional practice and I can start making bushings that I need. Steering will be rebuilt before you know it (I hope) Need to get some better measuring tools.
