Ross steering box rebuild
 

I had quite a bit of slop in the steering of my 1641 that I'm going through, so I thought I would open up the steering box and see how it looks. I'm sure it is loose in the box because I could turn the steering wheel and it was tight at the CV joint but the cam was not moving.

Well, I was expecting more wear on the cam follower pin. There are no flat spots, just even wear like is visible in the first picture. Is it common for the shafts to wear too or would this amount of wear on the pin cause it to be so loose? All of the other bolts were tight and cotter keys were still installed where they should be. The cap on the bottom of the whole assembly was still in place with cotter key installed.

You didn't mention whether you tried adjusting the pin first. It looks like the pin may be worn enough that it is too narrow which allows it to contact the rod. I see what appear to be scrape marks from the pin bottoming out. Either buy a new pin or grind off some of the narrow end of the pin until it wont bottom out in the groove. The kit I bought had new bearings but I should have replaced the races as well. And don't skip removing the cotter pin and readjusting the end cap.

The box just being out of adjustment will cause a lot of "slop".
The pin out of adjustment, the lower cap not tight on the bearings.
The pin should wear on the sides, unless someone has been turning it randomly. It doesn't look worn to me. No way it could be worn evenly. I'd say you just need to clean it up, lube and adjust it.


Don't listen to Vrobert, he thinks you can take apart and rebuild sealed bearings. He doesn't have good judgement on worn parts, or apparently understand how to fix things.

I don't think it looks like the pin was bottoming out, but you should readjust it and make sure it isn't anyway.

I would remove the pin from the plate and see how it fits in the groove. Make sure it can't touch botom and only contacts the sides.

And whatever you do don't take any advice from J-Mech. He's cranky because he suffers from premature ignition and clevis envy. I hear it's contagious.

He has the plate off. Why would he need to remove the pin??? He can just set it down on the worm gear still on the plate and see how it fits.

Wouldn't matter anyway. When he reassembles it, you have to set the pin depth, and you can't see in the box to do it. You have to do it by feel.

I see no evidence on the pin, or the worm to indicate it is bottoming out.

I would not mess with J too much.
Better just keep rebuilding ball bearings :biggrin2: :ROTF2:

Thanks all for the input. I just did a quick check and it's not bottoming out. Could be just grease smears in the first pictures that make it look like that.

I had a long day at work and things to take care of this evening so I didn't even take the time to understand why the threads on the stud are wearing. Maybe I'm not holding the worm gear correctly in relation to the pin in this picture.

I had another member PM me that he replaces any wear parts he can when he's this far in. I tend to agree unless I would get a bad pin in this case that wasn't as hard and actually wears faster.

I took the box out of my 1641 apart last week when I discovered that the seal retainer had come out of place. I've cleaned up all the parts and ordered a new pin and seal retainer. The plastic cage for the upper bearing had broken up and I found several pieces of it in the grease. I plan to put it back together without the cage. The pin does wear in two places if it's never been adjusted. I don't have mine back together yet so I won't give any advise on that.
Cannon

Umm, I think you will need that cage.

If you put a column together without the cage i recommend adding an extra ball or two to take up the space, the column in my 108 doesn't have a any cage's in it and it's been that way for 6yrs.