For those of you that have seen the other post, I am in the process of rebuilding my steering box. I got it completely apart today. It looks like I need seals and bushings and a worm gear. I can buy the gear and shaft pre-assembled from CPP for 129.99, or I can buy just the gear from John's F-100 for 69.99. I would like to save the money if I can, but am curious as to how I would go about pressing the gear back onto the shaft once the shaft is pressed out of the old gear. Has anyone here got any experience with this? I'm thinking if I can support the shaft vertically somehow in the arbor press, I can just press the gear on. Otherwise, I was thinking about throwing it in the oven to heat it up, hoping that the gear would just slip on then. Would this be a bad idea? Any help would be appreciated. Look for a detailed tech article, with pictures in the near future. John

 

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I didn't think you could remove the gear from the column shaft. Replacing just the gear may require machining the shaft to receive the new one? I'd give John's a call and ask. In any case I would pin the gear to the shaft.

 

I'm tagging along with this thread, looking forward to the pics.

I got an idea: Lets say you get the old gear off the shaft.... then what if you filed down the shaft so the new gear would slide on, nice and snug, then do a spot weld to hold it in place. You wouldn't be able to do the top, because of the bearing but you could through a spot weld on the bottom. Considering you have to have the worm gear pin spot welded, might as well weld the shaft gear also. By the way I'm thinking of the 56' box I just completed, a 58' might be different.

 

The gear and shaft are splined. The gear is pressed onto the shaft. The gear is also case hardened, it's not pinned from the factory. It has one square spline, if that's what you'd call it, kinda like a key, that orientates the gear to the shaft.

Here's a pic of the end of the assembly


Here's the damage done to the gear. Amazingly, there isn't even deep scratches on the sector roller.

 

Black58, buy the shaft and worm gear, what you didn't say is the condition of the sector gear. With the worm gera looking that bad I can imagine what the sector gear looks like. I had to replace my sector gear but the worm gear was ok.

 

What are the odds of those gears having to be replaced on high miliage vehicles? I was going to order a rebuild kit for my 56 but I am not sure the shape of the gears. The 56 has 156,000.6 miles on it. I am just curious of the chances cause that will greatly change my cost estimate if I have to add those pieces.

 

I did say in my last post, right above the pic of the worm gear. The sector roller is fine, not even a deep scratch.

 

I have to say honestly that looks just like the one offered for passenger cars. Dont know if the splines are the same but I dont see the problem in just replacing the damaged gear. Unless both gears are cheap I'd say replace just the worn one. Odds are if that didnt damage the other gear it should last.

 

I got the gear off, I'll post pics on my lunch hour. Fortunately, I have access to tools, and equipment that most guys don't. I was able to put the whole assembly in a vise and run it through a solid mount cutoff wheel, slicing it length ways almost down to the shaft on both sides. Then I carefully split the remaining material with a punch and hammer until it slid off. When I get the new gear, I will clamp the shaft in a Lathe chuck that isn't mounted on a lathe, and press the new gear on. It really shouldn't be an issue, and will save me enough dough to put towards my new harness.

 

Well, I didn't get to the pics at lunch. I did get the bronze bushings out, though I'm not entirely happy with the job I did avoiding the wall of the bore. I also got the oil seal bore cleaned up. On top of that, I wire brushed the outside of the housing. If I don't get the pics posted tonight, I will get them up tomorrow. Now, time to order the parts.

 

Careful application of heat (like in an oven at 250) and cooling the shaft in a bucket of ice, can't hurt. I suspect it still won't "slip on". Good luck, let us know how it goes!

 

I have considered this, but if the gear were to be annealed even slightly, that would be catastrophic. Without a way to really control the speed at which the gear is heated, I probably would screw it up, and I really don't want to risk softening the gear at all.

 

I got the pics taken today. They're not alot to look at, but some of you may be interested in seeing what is inside a manual gear box.

First the splined end of the shaft with the gear off.



Next the gear, sliced lengthwise, and a shot from the end.




The housing, looking through the bushing bore, you can see the damage done getting the bushings out. It should be OK though, as the gouges aren't as deep as they look, and they don't run very long. I will still try to clean them up a bit. The seal bore is one diameter larger than the bushing bore. I will dress that and clean it a little more before installing the seal. Just a note, most of the damage to the face and seal bore area was there before I attempted getting it apart.




Finally, the sector shaft and roller. As you can see, the roller is in pretty good shape considering the damage done to the worm gear. The shaft is dirty, but really isn't too bad, except for some pitting on the part of the shaft that will be mated to the pitman arm.




Due to the economy, the shop I work in is shutting down for two weeks. I have a lead on a place to get the gear pressed on if it arrives during the shutdown period. Otherwise, it may have to wait until I return to work to get it reassembled. Stay tuned.

 

No steel I know of has a transformation temperature below 650 deg.'s, as long as you let the oven preheat, then stick the gear in there, you should be fine. For example, bearing races are frequently heated for assembly, to similar temps.