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Steering Relay Refurb Par 1
Hi Everyone,
Had thoughts through the week of starting to overhaul the gearbox. The main reason I decided not to start that yet is that I haven't got all the parts together yet. I need to order the high ratio gearset from Ashcrofts in the UK (http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co...-gear-set.html). So, instead of having the gearbox and transfer case split open and parts everywhere, I decided to just leave that until I had all the bits together. So, what next....?? The focus has been on getting a rolling chassis with fully restored running gear in it (sans gearbox/t-case etc) so I turned my attention to the steering relay.
I guess you had all heard horror stories like I have of the black witchcraft and the evil forces contained within the steering rely. The steering relay in the Camel was so stiff that I could not turn it by hand and only giving the steering arm some decent whacks with a rubber mallet would cause it to move only the smallest amounts - obviously it needed an overhaul.
First job was to place some witness marks on the upper and lower steering arms so that I knew the exact location to put them back in. The Haynes manual states that the arms are 90-degrees apart, while all other sources say its 81-degrees. I think that the 81-degrees is the correct measurement as I have found it repeated in multiple sources. Truth-be-told, I am really getting annoyed with the inaccuracy of the Haynes manual - I have now annotated about 2-dozen mistakes in the book which are now over-written in pencil.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477781721
This is what greeted me when it was time to attack the 'tube of woe'....it had been welded on. Or more accurately, the right angle brackets that the bolts go through had been re-welded on (badly) and then the PO then decided to put some dobs on the steering relay for good measure. That could be good or bad depending how you looked at it, good - the thing was lose and would slip straight out and the welds were what was holding it in, bad - the frame was rotten, thing was rusted in, and it was just a general mess....
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477781721
Arms in good shape, straight and not abused or (thank god) not welded. Upper:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477781721
Lower:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477781721
Meanwhile, Plugger was sent back to the parts washer to wash the steering arms, rods and anything else that needed cleaning (he is getting good at it now)...
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477781721
Continued....
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Steering Relay Refurb Day 1
Continued...
I removed the bottom collar without too much difficulty. The four bolts were covered in oily gunk so obviously the lower seal had gone a long time ago and this had attributed to the cause of the steering relays demise. With judicious use of the angle grinder, I cut off the offending dollops of weld on top of the steering relay without to much damage to the relay itself. Upon removal of the bolts I noticed that the relay did move ever so slightly in the crossmember so I took this as a good sign. I got Plugger to grab as couple of long screwdrivers, some blocks of wood and use them as a lever on the top of the relay while I got the soft dead-blow mallet and gave it some good whacks from underneath (first glance you will see it only comes out from the top)...
Blessed be the cheese-makers..!! - half dozen good whacks and the black tube of sorcery was out! It didn't look too bad - Hallelujah :D
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477783267
But, what greeted me inside the crossmember was very ugly!! I am not sure whether this tube that the relay sits in is meant to go all the way through the crossmember or not. It if does well half of it is missing and it will need to be replaced. If it doesn't then this is a very silly design flaw and just asking for trouble in the form of trapped water and dirt leading to massive corrosion problems:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477783267
Meanwhile, in another part of the workshop not too far away, Plugger was getting down and dirty (literally) with the steering rods and arms and all the other bit n pieces that needed cleaning prior to being repainted or replaced:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477783267
I took the relay over to the press to under the upper an lower end plates. Not knowing what to expect in terms of the demons contained within, I decided to clamp it in the 20T press in case any of the evil contained within should leak out and not be contained:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477783267
Plugger had finished his cleaning and had started refurbishing - gloss black for all the steering arms and rods etc. They were all in very good nick:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477783267
Continued...
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Steering Relay Refurb Day 1
Continued...
Using the press I had totally dismantled the relay except for the shaft and bushes and of course the spring of death!! I considered pushing the shaft out with the press but then decided against it as I had no way to contain parts once they had exited the relay body. Considering all the options, I decided to just place the relay on its side and drive the shaft out with the soft hammer and try to catch all the parts in a cardboard box lined with a plastic bag. Holy cow this thing took some force to get out!!! Finally, the shaft came out far enough for the spring to eject the washer, spacer and one of the bushes out the bottom of the (somewhat flimsy cardboard box now I think of it) box, across the workshop and into the next dimension never to be seen of again. Not that I minded, this was all going to be replaced anyway!
The contents after the initial richter-scale sized explosion. I can see why the relay shaft never turned, it was frozen solid with gunk, rust and other forms of rotation-stopping crud:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477784720
Inside the relay body. Water had obviously gotten in and started to rust solid all the internal parts. Not an issue really, definitely salvageable. It seems the PO had at some stage tried to service the part as seen by the use of silastic on the top cover. It would have not done any good - the bottom seal was knackered so any oil put in would have just leaked out and let water eventually get in to rust everything solid over time.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477785232
And this is the shaft... Evidence of heavy pitting and corrosion due to lack of oil and water ingress. I had thoughts of binning this and buying an new unit. However, I read of quite a few horror stories online of aftermarket relay shafts (The name Britpart came to the surface again!) snapping in half due to poor quality metallurgy or poor machining practices. Hmmm, not for me and definitely not for Plugger.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477785629
So, how to refurbish. I thought I would chuck it in the lathe and turn down the seal lands and bush lands so they were perfectly smooth once again. But, I would have to get the angles of the bush surfaces absolutely spot on or else the bush contact area would be compromised leading to excessive wear, increased resistance and possibly early failure of the buses or the shaft itself. So, I decided to chuck it in the lathe and use some 240-grade emery paper to sand down the shaft until all the bush and seal surfaces were once again usable. after about an hour in the lathe, taking it very slowly using lots of WD-40 I think I have it to a point whereby it should be just fine to re-use:
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1477785629
That was the end of day 1 on the relay. Next is to order some parts and complete the rebuilding of it. But that will be next week, enjoy...
Cheers,
Tricky
Steering Relay Refurb Day 1
Thanks John!
I think I might just remake that whole section - might be easier!!
Cheers,
Tricky
