Front End R&R Steering and Suspension

[robspeed]

R&R these old buckets for SAFE driving by replacing all your front end bushings and joints! Learn how to center and adjust your steering box, even to pack it with grease instead of oil to eliminate leaks!

[jerry]

Note: This post is contained in 3 separate posts. The photos are somewhat in reverse order. Oh well....

Ever wonder what's inside a steering box?

I did and I took photos to show anyone who cares.

Hopefully, these may serve as an encouragement to clean and refresh your own box. I am fortunate to have a couple on hand, just in case.

I will try to identify the wear locations. Unfortunately, unless you have access to a decent machine shop, about all you can do is clean it up and install new seals.

Noticeable wear occured on the brass bushings. These could be replaced by a competent machinist.

There are two ball bearings with plastic separators that support the input screw.

The output shaft rotates within two brass bushings in the bottom of the steering box casting. The fit was still snug after 30 years. On the upper end of this shaft, within the coverplate is another brass bushing where an appreciable wear step was found.

The teeth on the input and output shaft looked smooth and no obvious wear step was observed. Again, I would have liked to compare these with those parts from a relatively good box, just to make sure.

The forward end of the input shaft is supported by a set of ball bearings that ride against a steel race which is adjusted with shims. Some wear was observed on the cover plate.

[jerry]

Well, this set of photos should precede the previous set. but I didn't want to spend time seeing how many photos I can install in a single post only to loose them.....

[jerry]

Okay, so my ordering for this writeup is a little mixed up...

If I had the opportunity, I'd like to replace the brass bushing in the upper cover to see what effect it has on the service life of the steering box. The most obvious wear occured at this location.

My future plan is to disassembe a Close Ratio Steering box and a normal Steering box and compare the differences in gears. I will be looking for any differences in wear amounts and location with respect to the box I just completed.

[jerry]

i've attached the following two photos which show the difference between a close ratio gearing next to the standard pitch gearing.

just in case you were curious.

these are the only differences between the two steering boxes

[jerry]

click here for my writeup on replacing these bushings:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,283064/highlight,/

[jerry]

click here for my writeup on replacing these bushings:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,283064/highlight,/

and this thread preceded the above thread:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,282943/highlight,/