I have two steering columns/boxes for my '59 f250. Problem is one of them has the cup all bent up and on the other one the bolt is stripped out and deformed(someone must have tried using a puller or something and messed it up).

Do the outer sleeves with the cup come off? Or does the actually steering shaft come off so it could be swapped and have one usable unit?

 

If can get the steering wheel the cup does separate from the outer housing. The shaft itself is one piece into to gearbox. I had to cut my wheel in order to get it off after the shaft was bummed up like yours. You can buy new shafts with worm gear, but entails getting into the gearbox.

 

you can take a mounted bur and smooth of the shaft then after the wheel is removed take a small file and clean up the threads then use a jamb nut not quite as thick. you may have to shock the shaft to get it loose dri ice or heat . use a good mouse **** like rusty by kent industry

 

The turn signal cup is spot welded to the column. The column, however, is easy enough to separate from the shaft which is an integral part of the steering box. Look at the bottom of the column where it meets the steering box. There is a clamp there with a pinch bolt. Loosen the pinch bolt and the column will slide right up off the shaft. Obviously, the steering wheel is going to need to be off first. It is a simple procedure to use the good column and signal cup in your truck with the good shaft on your parts chassis, but you will have to swap the entire steering box assuming that the spare on your parts chassis is in good shape.

 

BlueOval, that's what I was hoping to do, the steering setup with the busted threads had the pinch bolt as you described, however the setup with the bent cup does not. I tried twisting it with vice grips but it seems like it's solidly connected to the steering box.

 

Mine was exactly the same way. It takes patience but it can be repaired.

You can "circumcize" off the 1/16" burr with a grinder- cut grind off as little as possible. Then pull off the steering wheel.

Use a knife edge file and start down in the good threads and slowly file around and up recutting the threads - it's actually opening them up and filing off the extra metal left from cutting off/leveling the top edge. Once you get the threads reestablished, you can taper the top edge with some emery cloth. Then use a die or the wheel nut and gently get it started. then carefully tighten it on to properly reform the threads.

Another way to do it is to grind off the burr (and remove the wheel), then get an extra nut and cut it in half with a fine dremmel metal cutting wheel. Take the two halves and place them on the lower threads where they are still good and clamp them back together with a small metal "hand screw" (like a Jorgensen) clamp. Then use a crescent wrench on the hand screw to back it up and recut the threads.

 

B7T3509A .. Mast Jacket Assy. (outer steering column tube) / Obsolete

Fits: 1957/58 F100/600 / 1959/60 F100/250 2WD/4WD / 1959/60 F350/600 / ALL w/4 Speed Manual Transmission

No Ford Dealer or obsolete parts vendor has any.

You might try EARLY FORD STORE in San Dimas CA for a used mast jacket (earlyfordstore.com).
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There were two different steering gearboxes used in 1959. One was made by Saginaw, one by Gemmer.

The steering shaft & worm assy is different between the two gearboxes.

B7C3524A .. Steering Shaft & Worm Assy / Use with Gemmer Steering Gearbox / Obsolete / Fits: 1957/60 F100/250.

JST AUTOMOTIVE in Lebanon TN has ONE = 615-443-3086.

GREEN SALES CO. in Cincinnati OH has ONE = 800-543-4959.
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B9TT3524B .. Steering Shaft & Worm Assy / Use with Saginaw Steering Gearbox / Obsolete / Fits: 1959 F100/250 only.

No Ford Dealer or obsolete parts vendor has any.

 

De-burr per Julie/ soak the threads with a rust remover/ I use a old rivit gun to shock rust sometimes/ I have always use a tap and die set to clean/ re-cut threads. I never hear of anyone using these sets anymore. Also need to use a nut on the shaft to protect the threads when using a steering wheel remover. chuck

 

Heres a picture of the bottom of the sleeves, as you can see one has the clamp, and looks like it probably comes right off after it's loosened. However the other one has no clamp and just goes into the steering box, does this mean it's non removable?
Also, is one style box better than the other?

 

You definitely have two different boxes. Also look at the spline where the pitman arm connects, they are different as well. The top pic looks like a late 40's or early 50's. The bottom one looks like the later 50's. It is the one I have in my 58.

 

Colin,

The arrangement on your parts truck is a new one for me. I suspect that that one is the Saginaw box that Bill mentioned. Most of these old trucks use the Gemmer box. That's what you've got pictured in the last pic. I don't know how the column comes off of the Saginaw box, although it looks like it might be a press fit. I don't think it matters, though. The columns aren't going to be interchangeable.

As I see it, you've got two choices here. Your first choice is to repair the threads on the Gemmer box shaft. I can't see exactly how bad it is, but it may be possible to file off the mushroom and repair the existing threads with a file or a die as the others have suggested. If that doesn't work, another repair method is to recut the threads to the next smaller size. Here's a link to some info on that procedure:

http://www.stangerssite.com/CanISteeringBox.html

It's at the bottom of the page.

Your second option here would be to repair the bent up column and use it with the Saginaw box on the parts chassis. There are two approaches to accomplishing that as well. Either way, you're going to have to figure out how to separate the column from the Saginaw box. One way to fix the column would be to separate the spot welds on both columns, swap bells, and spot weld the straight bell from the Gemmer column onto the Saginaw column. That might be a considerable challenge to get done considering that the spots are "inside" the bell where they would be tough to get to and grind apart. The other thing you could do is cut both columns in half right below the dash support bracket and weld the top of the Gemmer column to the bottom of the Saginaw column. If you measure right and get the joint to fall right below the bracket, it will be hidden and nobody would ever see it.

 

The top one is from a '59 f250 and the bottom one is from a '60 f350. I guess it's possible that someone swapped it out????

 

The pictured shaft damage was caused by NOT using a steering wheel puller, but by using the brute force BFH method. Many auto parts stores have a free tool loan program, borrow a good puller (it will have a heavy bar with a threaded "bolt" in the center, slots on each end and various size bolts with it). Soak the shaft and wheel with a GOOD penetrating oil, I like Liquid Wrench, WD-40 is NOT a penetrating oil! each day for 3 or 4 days before attempting to pull the wheel. Pick two of the bolts from the set that match the threaded holes in the wheel hub and screw in as far as possible but both to equal amount. Turn in the center bolt until the pointed end is aligned with the center of the shaft and everything is aligned evenly. Tighten the center bolt. Either the wheel will come off with the tightening of the bolt or the bolt will get very tight. If the latter, with the bolt as tight as possible, give the top end of the centerbolt of the puller a couple sharp shots with a heavy ball peen hammer or small hand maul. (NEVER hammer on steel with a carpenters hammer, and wear safety glasses!) If the wheel doesn't pop off with 4 or 5 raps of the hammer, try tightening the bolt some more. If it is still as tight as before give it another dose of penetrating oil and leave it overnight with the tension on it. Try again the next day with the hammer raps and attempt to tighten. If it still doesn't budge, take it to your friendly tire store and see if they will use an air ratchet on the centerbolt. If the air ratchet doesn't do it you have one stuck MF and you may have to split the wheel hub with a cutoff wheel to get it off.

 

I would vote with AX on getting the wheel off. Mine was a real bugger and I pretty much followed the procedure as AX laid it out.

One trick I'm sure others have used is splitting a die to fix buggered up threads. If the threads farther down the shaft are good, take an inexpensive die and cut it in half with a cutoff wheel. Use the thinnest wheel you can so you remove as little of the die as possible. Make sure to cut it so that the locating dimple for the die handle's screw ends up in the middle of one half of the cut die. Don't worry too much about getting the cuts perfectly straight or even lined up perfectly across the die. You need to be close, but not perfect.

Put the two halves over the column threads down where they are still good. Then put the die handle over the two halves and snug up the screw on the handle to hold things in place. So long as the threads are not totally mushroomed out, you can then back the die out over the buggered threads and it will recut them very nicely.

If you get too much resistance when backing off the die handle, loosen the die handle screw a little. You can always repeat the process while tightening the screw a little each time. That will gradually cut the threads again and is probably the best way to go now that I think about it.

We used this method on some exotic chromium and nickel alloys used in jet engines and it worked very well on $10,000 parts that you can't find at the local hardware store.