super A steering box

My buddy has a 50's A and the steering box has a lot of play and was wondering how it comes apart?

that requires a pretty long answer!

The quick version is you need to pull the entire front end off (steering box and axles).

A quick run through on the long answer...

before starting - take a real close look at the steering components and make sure the slop isn't just in the tierods.

Most likely it's both - but if there's slop in the steering box, continue -

-remove hood & grill

-remove steering wheel

-take big hex plug out of steering box and slide the steering shaft all the way down and out through it.(might have to jack up front to get it out, can't remember)

- drain collant, undo radiator hoses and radiator bracket. (I recommend removing the radiator completely, but don't have to)

- jack up (at the transmission) and block so the front end is loose (not too high)

- take out the 4 or 5 big bolts holding the entire front end on and carefully lay the whole unit down.

- undo the steering "tie rods"

- there is a 1 inch diameter "pin" that the axle pivots on - take the bolts that tighten around it COMPLETELY OUT (the shaft is notched at these bolts). Drive the pin out USING A CENTER PUNCH placed in the middle of the face of the pin. VERY IMPORTANT. DO NOT try to hammer the pin out with anything else!!!! You WILL mushroom it - and it will NEVER come out! Please trust me on this! USE a center punch, even if you have to drive 50 miles to buy one.

- from there, the disassembly should be obvious.

- if you're using a kit with new brass bushings -getting the old ones out can be very tough. When you give up trying to pull them out - take a hacksaw blade and make a cut all the way down one side of the bushing (two cuts is even better, it'll fall right out). Then use a chisel to get them out. It's ok if you nick the cast iron here and there, but be careful.

- on the bottom of the unit where the steering arm attaches, if it's the square drive - that connection is probably worn and very loose. Cut little square shims out of a beer can, and put them in the square hole before you clamping it tight again. (not all have the square shaft connection).

replace all the bearings and seals. (don't worry if the top seal isn't as deep as the original).

One other note - in the kits, they'll probably give you a ball bearin that's sealed. That'll work, but it will also block off the top half wher you add grease. Hard to explain - but the original bearing was open so oil would flow down through it. It's not a big deal since there are two areas you can add lube. Just be aware. That should make sense when you see it all apart.

Put everything back together - USE A CENTER PUNCH TO RE-INSTALL THE PIN - DO NOT HAMMER THE END OF IT EVEN ONCE WITHOUT USING A CENTER PUNCH - YOU WILL BE SORRY - IT'S AS MALEABLE AS BUTTER.

It may sound like a lot of work, and it is, but it's SO worth doing. It can be done in a long afternoon.

Loose steering isn't just annoying, it can get real dangerous if driving on a road. Once you get it all back together, it'll be so tight it'll be like driving a car.

Good luck.

I've got pictures of when I did mine, I'll try to find them and post later today.

I just got to drive my Super "A" this weekend for the first time , and I have a 1/4 turn of slop in mine too . In the I&T manual it indicates that the sector gear is only a fourth of a gear , not a full round gear that can be flipped over like all the other models . Will the bushing kit take out that much wear ??

You need to check the tie rods and the out-put shaft of the steering unit first then if thats not the problem do as the long post says and rebuild you will like the results. I have done probably 6 of them in the last 10yrs and all worked just fine with rebuild.

My tie rod ends are reasonably tight , the lost motion and slop is in the box... Thanks !!

Oh, and disconnect your lights!

To be honest, 1/4 turn doesn't sound all that bad too me.

I'm not sure you'd get that out with the bushings/bearings.

And I'm not sure you can flip the sector gear... just can't picture it - but thought it was a sort of one way thing - but you could be right. If so, that might help.

The gear getting worn only causes some of the slop. It's more of a combination of a little slop here, and a little slop there that adds up.

I had a full 180 degrees of free play - from 9:00 to 3:00 before the wheels even thought about turning. Another 15 degrees either way before they would actually start moving appreciably.

Maybe 20% of that was fixed by tigtening up all the tie rods.

I'd say another 50% came from the worn square hole in the steering arm at the bottom of the steering box.

The remaining 30% was fixed by new bushings and bearings in the steering box.

Even after all that, it's not completely tight, there's still a good amount of free-play. But it's WAY better than it was.

It went from undriveable to a pleasure to drive.

I honestly don't even notice the slop that's left now while driving it.

And, the way I look at it is that it's a 60 year old machine, you've got to live with a little looseness. I'm not sure what they were like from that factory, but I'd guess there was some slop to begin with.

So for me it's a case of diminishing returns. I don't feel like spending big bucks and time chasing a few degrees of free play.

I'm sure with new gears and more work I could get it tighter, but it really is quite useable as is.

Thanks dalex for hijacking my thread. Original question was: How does the box come apart? We know where the slop is.

a few pictures for you- and a few things I forgot about.

on the sector gear, there's a keyway - on mine there was a lot of slop between the woodruff key/gear/and shaft. I put another beer can shim in with the woodruff key to tighten that up. You can see me measuring that gap with a feeler guage.

Another picture is of the square hole on the steering arm.

Then - a picture of the axle tube with the pivot pin. I had forgotten that on mine, it had cracked, and that was allowing for a LOT of wobble and looseness - you can see my weld all rusty. Worth checking when you get yours apart.
I also realized that I pulled the pin and axle first, then took off the steering housing by itself.

finally - just a picture of the sector gear back in the housing.

From these pictures, I don't think the sector gear is reversible - it has one side that sticks out more - not sure if you can work around that or not, but at a minimum, it's definitely not symetrical.

uggg- messed up the pictures! I'll try again

And here's how the steering shaft comes out

If the steering box has play, the first thing to check is does the steering wheel shaft move back and forth when you turn the steering wheel. If it does, the bearing on the end of the steering wheel shaft is bad or not properly installed. This can cause a lot of play. To check it, take the big hex plug out of the front of the steering box remove the steering shaft support near the steering wheel. With the plug out, you can screw out the worm gear with shaft and bearing. The shaft and worm gear are all one piece. If the bearing is bad, replace it and you will get rid of a lot of play. When you put in the new bearing, make sure the castle nut on the shaft is tight and clamps the inner race securely to the shaft. Then when you install it back it the box, the plug must act to clamp the outer race in the box. I've found that sometimes, a machine washer is needed between the plug and the outer race to get the bearing tight in the box. Just make sure whatever washer you use clamps only the outer race and does not contact the bearing or the inner race. Also, the center steering arm can cause play in the steering. Often, the nut that holds the steering arm on gets loose due to wear I suppose and results in play. If you can move the center arm up and down, then you have a problem there. To effectively treat that problem, you have to remove the front axle to get to the nut to remove and check the steering arm and vertical shaft key.

I got my 100's driveability improved greatly by properly adjusting the toe-in.

Best advice - get arm under gear box "centered" before you start --- the the left & right tie rods should be approx the same length (mine were not).

ONLY THEN should you begin adjusting toe in to proper measurement (i think it's 1/4 inch narrower in front than back )

yes - spec is 1/8 to 1/4 toe in.

I'm not sure you really need to be (or really CAN be) THAT precise, but I do agree, it does make a difference, especially if you're wheels are way off to begin with.

Good pics! That's what I was looking for. Thank you very much.