Thread: Steering Relay Removal

I doubt any puller will be successful if you have been trying that long, although a puller made up with a large jack, a heavy I-beam and two loops of chain might have some hope. The problem is, that if you do this, you are likely to wreck the cross member before you move the relay.

One possibility would be to disassemble the relay* and heat the housing to near red heat from the inside. When cooled, this is likely to have broken the rust bond although further help (after it has thoroughly cooled) could be by packing the interior of it with dry ice for half an hour.

* The relay can be safely disassembled in place;- remove both arms and the bottom cover. Gently tap the shaft down until the bottom split bush starts to appear. As soon as enough of it is visible, tighten a hose clip around it. Continue until there is enough showing to put on a second hose clip, and install this as a precaution. Continue until the upper bush appears, and repeat this procedure. There is significant danger of flying parts if this procedure is not followed exactly, and you might want to put something in place to limit the movement until you have the hose clamps on. Definitely wear eye protection and work at arm's length!

John

The only thing I would add to Johns advice is that if all else fails it is possible to rebuild the relay in the chassis, but you must be very careful to avoid personal injury. I got knocked out one time when the special tool slipped whilst rebuilding a dozen relays for exchange stock.

Not certain what effect heating the cast iron would have on metal regards rebuilding same in situ.
Wagoo.

Originally Posted by wagoo

.......

Not certain what effect heating the cast iron would have on metal regards rebuilding same in situ.
Wagoo.

If done slowly and evenly it should not affect it - and my impression was that the cross member was wanted intact, not the relay! If the relay is really considered scrap, you could make two hacksaw cuts the length of it after removing the works, but that would be a lot of work! Oxy cutting done by an expert might also work, with a lot less work.

John

Hi,
Thankyou for your input.
Actually I want both the relay and the crossmember to stay intact, otherwise I would probally just disaasemble the relay in situ and run a couple a welds down the inside of it with the arc, then hopefully that would shrink it enough to dislodge it.
At present I have a hydraulic jack underneath to apply a bit of pressure (there is no motor in the chassis). I will give this a few days and keep knocking it with a bass dolly to see if it breaks free.
If this doesn't work I will go for the more dangerous method of unassembling it in the crossmember and go from there. Maybe then try fabricating a puller arrangement to lift it out.
One thing is for sure.....when i get around to fitting one in a cross member there will be plenty of graphite grease, coppercoat or the likes used!

Cheers, Mick.

Originally Posted by mick88

Hi,

If this doesn't work I will go for the more dangerous method of unassembling it in the crossmember and go from there. Maybe then try fabricating a puller arrangement to lift it out.
One thing is for sure.....when i get around to fitting one in a cross member there will be plenty of graphite grease, coppercoat or the likes used!

Cheers, Mick.

I tried a trolley jack and chain around the chassis but it was waste of time.
I have recently rebuilt my S3 one in-chassis andI made a tool as illustrated in the S3 workshop manual.

Originally I tried the method shown in the S1 Manual
but the clip came lose and I had to abandon the procedure and change my dacks

If you want to overhaul the relay then knock the bits out into bag hanging on the chassis - I used a green shopping bag; the kind designed to replace plastic bags.

On my S1 I removed the relay by turning the chassis upside-down and using an extremely heavy sledge-hammer and 2 weeks worth of penetrating fluid to persuade it to move.

Good luck and be safe,

Cheers Charlie

Hi,
I have a plan if it doesn't budge!
I will disassemble it in the chassis, then make up a bridge puller, and turn up a heavy flange to fit the bottom of the housing, with a fine threaded high tensile bolt of about 22-25 mm, and hopefully pull the housing out.
I have a couple of other chassis here that I would also like to salvage the relay out of, without destroying the cross member, so it will be a worth while exercise.

Cheers, Mick.

Good idea!

Be aware that if they are rusted in, the sheet metal cylinder inside the chassis will probably be cactus. It is easy to remove by grinding the weld off the bottom and knocking what is left of it upwards and out of the cross-member. I made a new one by rolling a 1mm sheet through the metal-rolls,

Cheers Charlie

I am at the point of 'trying' to extract the steering relay in my S1 restoration. It is good to know I am not the first to have struggled with rusted in relays!

I have dismantled the internals (all fingers and eyes still working) and now trying to extract the body. I made up a puller to apply mild pressure while the relay body soaks in penetrating stuff. I made up a dam of plastercine around the top chassis member and filled it with penetrating oil for the soak. Perhaps next weekend the relay will give up and move when I apply a few tonnes pressure to it.

If that fails I think I will be cutting the relay out of the chassis, making up a new tube for relay then welding it all up.

Still, it is great to know others have gone before me.