Rebuilding my Steering Box then something bad happened!(UPDATE W MorePics)

BwoncoHowie · Nov 24, 2003

Here all along I thought my steering box would be out and back in on Saturday. Just wasn't to be this time. Tore it all down and found that the Ford dealer sold me the wrong seal kit. (It's the saginaw 5 1/2 turns power steering box) I had no problem finding the correct seal kit, (NAPA came through again) yea!

But...when I took the pitman shaft out for cleaning and inspection purposes all those little needle bearings fell out of the housing, then I discovered the damage... The bearing is trash but the shaft is still good.
The trouble I'm having now is locating the bearings that support the Pitman shaft. One of the bearings is broken the other one looks fine. I will be replacing them both. It's Torrington part number BH-2020.
Has anyone else had trouble with finding replacement parts for these?
What did you do?
There's gotta be an easier way.

GRRRR!
I'm into this thing so far for about 60.00 in parts, hope it will be worth it in the end. ~BH

67EB_in_619 · Nov 24, 2003

Give west texas offroad a call
1-87-STEERING
They know thier stuff and rebuild these things all day long... they can probably send you the part or help you find it local.
Good luck!!

BwoncoHowie · Nov 24, 2003

Here is a Pic of the bearing

m_m70 · Nov 24, 2003

this place may have what you need.
I have a machine shop and some of my machines are from the thirtys (1930s).
any time I've need a bearing or seal or anything related to that they have had it. the link I am posting says the carry the torrington needle bearings so you might try theese guys.
http://www.motion-industries.com/motion3/jsp/mi/motion.jsp

good luck with the rebuild and I hope this helps.
I rebuilt mine last year and so far so good!!
Mike

BwoncoHowie · Nov 24, 2003

BwoncoHowie said:
Here is a Pic of the bearing

Thanks for the help guys, I will give those places a try.
Here's the bearing that went south...
~BH

70bucks · Nov 25, 2003

BH theres a place here in San Diego called Kaman bearing they can sross reference just about any part number. Phone number for the one in San Marcos (15 minutes South of Temecula) 760-741-6222. I could have them in the mail to you today if they have them in stock. They may even have a location closer to you. Call me (760-535-1274) if they have e'm, and I'll pick them up on lunch or something.

BwoncoHowie · Nov 25, 2003

Thanks 70bucks! Your willingness to help me is much appreciated. The sources I have tried are not much help since many of their employees have taken the entire week off for this coming holiday. I did try a company called General Bearing in LA, We'll see if they come through when UPS gets here. Thanks again for everyones help, I will keep you posted. ~BH

Mikey · Nov 25, 2003

Mine did exactly the same thing. I couldn't get my bearing out. How did you do it? I gave up and sent my unit to West Texas Off-Road and paid $100+shipping. At first, I went to Car Quest and got the whole rebuild kit which inlcuded one bearing. When I gave up and sent mine out, those guys were great and accepted the kit for return and refund.

Past_Miner · Nov 25, 2003

If the UPS man doesn't bring the right goodies:

Another place to try in SoCal is Applied Industrial Technologies. They have a sales office in Santa Fe Springs and a gigantic warehouse in Fontana.

Sorry, I don't have a phone number handy. I haven't lived in your part of the world for a few years so I kind of purged the number from memory, and cell phone, and rolodex....

BwoncoHowie · Nov 26, 2003

Mikey said:
Mine did exactly the same thing. I couldn't get my bearing out. How did you do it? I gave up and sent my unit to West Texas Off-Road and paid $100+shipping. At first, I went to Car Quest and got the whole rebuild kit which inlcuded one bearing. When I gave up and sent mine out, those guys were great and accepted the kit for return and refund.

I had pullers but the jaw contact area was minimal and I was afraid of breaking the bearing race…

Since my main objective was to remove the bearings without incurring further damage to them. I made this tool out of a piece of shelf bracket (Home Depot $1.89). I cut it to length with a hacksaw then I radiused the edges with my bench grinder. I just kept removing material with the grinder until the tool would fit behind the bearing. If you insert this little piece of steel behind the bearing, then you can drive it out from the back side with a hammer and a (drift, piece of pipe, piece of broom handle, etc). It is important that the drift or driver you use is as close to the bore size as possible. My first attempt bent the tool made out of mild steel because the diameter of the drift I was using was too small. It’s much easier to explain with a picture.
~BH

Mikey · Nov 26, 2003

Ingenuity! Man, what a great and simple idea!!! You'll have to let me know if the installation goes as well! I gave up also due to the mesh adjustment and the thrust bearing adjustment. I do not have an inch-pound torque wrench. Add to that the fact that my shaft was pitted, I figured I'd let a pro do it. The kit was $50 so for $50 additional, a pro would solve al my problems. They even painted it for me!

Good luck!
Mikey

TexasBronco · Nov 26, 2003

How good of a job did WTOR do? As some of you may know they are literally down the street from me, like 5 mins to get out there. i was planning to rebuild my box myself for a VICA project, but if i can screw it up i would rather them do it.

BwoncoHowie · Nov 26, 2003

Mikey said:
Ingenuity! Man, what a great and simple idea!!! You'll have to let me know if the installation goes as well! I gave up also due to the mesh adjustment and the thrust bearing adjustment. I do not have an inch-pound torque wrench. Add to that the fact that my shaft was pitted, I figured I'd let a pro do it. The kit was $50 so for $50 additional, a pro would solve all my problems. They even painted it for me!

Good luck!
Mikey

I hear ya Mikey. I'm a born tinkerer though. And since the last person that worked on this steering box was a butcher-mechanic I was afraid to let anyone else touch it. If WTOR was around the corner I would prolly trust them fix it. But since they are 1800 miles away, I would be bothered by the down time and shipping charges. If the worm gear had been pitted or there was any other hard part damage that I couldn't repair, you can bet I would be sending it to WTOR in pieces. I have heard nothing but great reports about their rebuilt steering boxes. It has become a personal challenge now, and I don't think anyone else would give it the same care and attention as I would, so I'm comitted to go through with it. We'll see what happens, I have all the materials now and I'm going to resume finishing it come Friday.
~BH

Mikey · Nov 27, 2003

I'm pretty much the same way. I rarely get something I can't fix. I didn't have the tools and decided to give the guys a try. By the way, they turned it in a week. They spend one to two days on it once recieved. The rest is shipping time. Shipping was around $30 each way. I am also a long ways away. Bronco was down two weekends only! Not bad!

Good luck!
Mikey

BwoncoHowie · Nov 29, 2003

Thanks,
It's all better now, installed and working. I'm going to install a Tattle-Tale filter on it, and adjust the steering stops today.

Here is a pic of when it was in pieces.

Mikey · Nov 30, 2003

Yeah, looks familiar! I had mine apart like that when I ran into the trouble. I called West Texas Off Road to make sure that they would accept the thing in pieces. They said it wasn't a problem and that they get them like that all the time!

Hey, tell me about the filter.....

For me, I'm in winter hibernation mode. Working on the Bronco, Cougar, Capri and Mustang happens in warmer more sunlit times. When I get home from work, it's already dark. :-[ Now, it's computer games and building 1/48th scale model aircraft.

Hey, where is OC...Orange County? I'm up in Tehachapi.

Later!
Mikey

BwoncoHowie · Dec 1, 2003

Mikey said:
Hey, tell me about the filter.....

Later!
Mikey

The tattle-tale filter is what I'm using to clean up the system. I installed it in the return line temporarily to filter out any stray particles or debris that may shorten the life of the newly resealed steering gear. The reason it's called tattle-tale is because you can open it up and examine everything that has been filtered out. the special stainless steel screen is woven to filter out particles as small as 3 microns. It filters out everything from metalic flakes and dirt to rag lint. Then you can clean the filter element install it back in its housing and reuse it. ~BH

Mikey · Dec 1, 2003

Wow! I never have seen that kind of filter. Where you have yours mounted would interfere with my power brake M/C. DO you have a link for this thing?
Thanks,
Mikey

BwoncoHowie · Dec 2, 2003

Mikey said:
Wow! I never have seen that kind of filter. Where you have yours mounted would interfere with my power brake M/C. DO you have a link for this thing?
Thanks,
Mikey

I plan to install power brakes also, this filter system will come off when I am confident there is no more junk in my PS system. I have had this filter for about 20 years now and it has just been sitting around. I decided to put it to use. The newer version housings have major design changes. This is the only link i could find...~BH

http://www.guardexlubes.com/filters.html

BwoncoHowie · Dec 3, 2003

Welp, Looks like I will be ripping it back out again, The piston bore in my housing is bad and it's eating up the teflon ring on the rack piston.

Anybody out there got a housing at a reasonable price?

More pics to come

~BH

Rebuilding my Steering Box then something bad happened!(UPDATE W MorePics)

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