Thread: Steering woes!

As far as I know it's the uk or a better unit from a similar era car. I assume you ve ruled out slop in the unit mounts , relay, arms and ball joints etc...
There was a thread around on coating the nut( where most slop comes from) with either a chemical tobuild it up or dipping it in a molten metal ( Babbitt) ....... Ill stick up a link if I can find it

Thanks MFC. I am sure it is the steering box internals, as everything else is new & the mount to the bulkhead is very solid. My 107" has the modified recirculating ball steering, but this needs chassis rework which I rally don't want to do on the 80".

Trying to find a good 80" box is very hard, especially as ideally I would like a 48/49 Hale or Leys cast iron steering box, but they seem to be as rare as unobtanium! So it looks like pack it up & send it off to the UK.

Nigel

I have found a 49 down in Denmark that I'm trying to convince the owner to break for spares. It is completely rotten, has a 2 litre fitted and later axles.

It does have a lot of early parts that would help out a few rebuilds that are going on at the moment.

It has a steering box still attached the bulkhead. I will I've him a call this week and try and convince him to part with the good bits and bin the rest.

The steering in the Tickford was bad too. I ordered a new bronze nut from steering Services in the UK. They made it a couple of thou OS on the outside. I had a few other bronze nut boxes I stripped, then tried the new nut on all the worms untill I found a good one.
Then it was only a matter of turning down the outside to be a nice sliding fit in the best housing.
I am happy with it now.
I have heard of some 80" boxes with a steel nut but all the ones I have stripped, both alloy and iron all had the bronze nut.

Keith

Check the Series One Club forum as well; there is a post by a chap who has organised a firm in the north of England to make steel nuts I think,

Cheers Charlie

Originally Posted by 123rover50

The steering in the Tickford was bad too. I ordered a new bronze nut from steering Services in the UK. They made it a couple of thou OS on the outside. I had a few other bronze nut boxes I stripped, then tried the new nut on all the worms untill I found a good one.
Then it was only a matter of turning down the outside to be a nice sliding fit in the best housing.
I am happy with it now.
I have heard of some 80" boxes with a steel nut but all the ones I have stripped, both alloy and iron all had the bronze nut.

Keith

Thanks Keith. I will give steering services a call, they may even have a new worm as well! The two spare housings I have both have hairline cracks so will be a no go. The steering box I'm removing appears crack free.

Nigel

Originally Posted by andy_d110

I have found a 49 down in Denmark that I'm trying to convince the owner to break for spares. It is completely rotten, has a 2 litre fitted and later axles.

It does have a lot of early parts that would help out a few rebuilds that are going on at the moment.

It has a steering box still attached the bulkhead. I will I've him a call this week and try and convince him to part with the good bits and bin the rest.

Thanks Andy. Sounds like a good plan, let me know how you go. I'm going to try and source a new nut from the UK so will restore a spare box, but an immediate serviceable steering column would be good.

Nigel