LincolnSteve
Well-Known Member
A touch of the grinder had it cracked and off without damaging the shaft any further.
It cleaned up a bit and the new bearing fits ok.
If you had pushed it off the bridge you'd have missed out on all of this lovelly tinkering - I don't think you'd have had such a "life improving experience"!Hi. Good to hear from you. I was going to hang onto the old one in case. One of the very few sensible things I did on the day I bought the old heap was to check it was charging before we set off home. Looking back I still can't believe it got us all the way from Driffield to Lincoln. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if i'd just pushed it off the Humber Bridge when I had the chance.
The wear you have is too much!More on the steering box. This was how things looked when I first opened it up.
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To me that didn't look too bad. With all those sparkly bits in the oil earlier I thought it would be a disaster in there. I've found some signs of wear but I don't think it's too awful. Also it didn't feel too bad before taking it apart. I did find some of the tiny ball bearings from the top of the column down in the box but I don't think they came from the bearing that was in there. I have a feeling that the bearing has been replaced in the past and they were from an old one. Later i'll show you the state of the steering column. It looks like they chewed the old bearing out.
View attachment 230306 Seems ok I think. This is the time when the manual will say 'check parts for signs of wear' and I think to myself 'what am I looking for?'
In this case I turned to youtube. There's a bloke on there who I bet a lot of you have seen called steamwally so I had a look at his excellent video for help. The ends don't seem worn or pitted but there is one area of corrosion on the thread.
View attachment 230307 It's right where the bearings run but as it's the only bit and replacements cost the earth it'll have to do. The bearings seem to contact in the right place. Looks right anyway.
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There's also some damage inside the main nut but again as these are so expensive i'm going to have to put up with it.
View attachment 230309 That's the bit that travels up and down the thread on the shaft. The worst bit of damage is thankfully on one of the bits that I can afford to replace so at least something will be improved.
View attachment 230310 These bearing races come in the refurb kit. Only worry there is that it's a Britpart refurb kit so it's a lucky dip to see if they last ok.
Mate - what ever gets you through the night [Good John Lennon song that!]I appreciate what you are saying. Unfortunately the rest of the project is going to dictated by time and money. If parts are serviceable and it doesn't affect safety then it looks like they are going to have to be reused. If I can restore or improve something for a modest cost then I will. Anything that has to be replaced will be.
I will regret it. I already regret saving the chassis and not getting a galv one. I'm going to regret painting it with a brush and roller but if i'm ever going to finish there are going to have to be a lot of compromises and it will just have to be that I did the best job I could do under the circumstances.
We've touched on the emotions concerning compromise - I'm in a more frustrating situation.By the way, how is the building work going @Stretch ?
Your fix explains what I have on an overdrive I came by not long ago. No idea if it's strong enough so was lucky to find a housing at a good price.They were durafix easyweld and there's nothing easy about them.
i've got to crack on and get it back on the road.
Thanks for the offer. Very kind of you. I'll see how this one holds out and keep you in mind.I have a couple of builder steering boxes can strip one for the casing if required .. happy to do that ,