I have removed the steering gear and taken it apart and this is what I have. I do not know much about gears but I assume this is not usable correct? There appears to be paint on the gears or maybe it is just baked on grime. Is that normal?

 

I probably should have asked this previously but is the steering gear on an F3 the same as the F1 and F2?

 

F1,2 and 3 are the same . Do the edges of the gears feel sharp as if a burr has been formed along the edge , If so then they are indeed worn .

 

Actually they are not sharp at all. But there was no more adjustment and I had 6" of steering wheel play.

 

You need to clean the parts up to be able to tell anything.

 

Hopefully I will get to that tomorrow

 

What about the bearings at the end of the worm gear? Any end play in the worm shaft and it is impossible to get tight steering. That looks like 60 YO grease. Was the grease still fluid?

 

I did not notice any end play. The grease/oil was still very fluid. When you are adjusting the great which direction is tighter? Clockwise(like you might expect) or counter clockwise? Just curious.

 

Look at the filler cap on the box. It is stamped "Use Gear Oil"....

 

I would suggest you read up on the Van Pelt sales web site about
Steering gear repair . Also read section by Brian Falkner .

 

Where am I looking for Sharp edges? Mine are only sharp on the last part of the last turn on the helical gear. I will try to take a photo shortly as soon as I have them completely clean. Does anyone have a photo of a worm gear for comparison?

John

 

You may feel a burr along the top edge of the sector and or worm gears teeth .

 

OK here are the cleaned up parts. The sector looks good to me (though I am not really sure what I am looking at) Nothing feels loose



The worm gear has a strange texture to it (though it may be normal as well) but does not have any burs on the center teeth.



I would really like some opinions on their condition. I don't really want to buy new if I can make these work but I don't want anything unsafe either. If other pictures would help I can post anything you need.

 

How about just an opinion on the worm gear?

 

Hi John, Its very hard to see wear on a photo, but with that said the worm gear looks worn and pitted to me. I have only rebuilt one of these box's but IMPO since you already have the box apart, it would be a good investment to replace gears, (at least the worm) along with bearings, bushings, shimming gaskets, sector seal, and the steering shaft seal.I haven't checked prices latly but all of the parts will probably run about $250 to $300. If you don't have a press you will need to have the new gears pressed on for you. The rest of the job is not hard, the directions are in the red shop manual. I was able to get away with only the worm gear on mine. I bought a cheap set of HF reamers, and a scale used for weighing a fish to ream the bushings, and set the preload( there are pic of these two items in my album #1) You will never get rid of all play with this type of steering, however after replacing tie rods, rebuilding the drag link, replacing pitman arm and spindle ball, and steering box I have acceptable amount of play, aprox 1'' in either direction. I know a lot of your other steering components have already been covered in other threads, so I wont go into detail about those. I hope this is helpful info . good luck