My'40 Ford steering box needs a rebuild!

Finally got sick of the slop in the steering of my '40 pickup. Pulled out the old steering box and column, and was horrified when water poured out. WTF? I live in the Mojave Dessert! I'm not optimistic of what condition of the insides of this baby will be.

I have a GM 525 manual box I was thinking of adapting for the job, but I just like the look of the original Ford stuff so much better . . . but my understanding is these are a pain to rebuild, but its what I need to do.

Anyone in the Los Angeles offer a rebuild service for these? I need to do this ASAP. Thanks in advance, HAMB brothers!

 

Not to steal your thread but I am looking for the same type of service in the same area for a 1940 Chevy Master 85. Any help would be great for both of us.


Semper Fidelis

 

If you want to minimize the downtime for your truck while you're having yours rebuilt, I have one sitting here across the desert in Apple Valley I don't need.
I'll make you a heck of a deal.

 

PM sent!


Still interested in getting the other one rebuilt though . . .

Anyone? Anyone? SOMEBODY out there must rebuild these suckers!

 

Those are not complicated to rebuild.

I'd bet that due to water in the box, plus miles, plus slop, then you will need :

-a new worm gear (the worm also has 2 machined-in, non removable bearing races that WILL be bad
-a new sector shaft (pitman arm attaches to this)
-the 2 bearings for the worm
-the bushings for the sector shaft.

Dennis Carpenter may be out of NOS parts, but someone on hamb must know where to get repro parts?? Anybody know about Joblot in NY?

 

I'd agree completely with frank here with the possible exception of one thing... You may not need a new sector, many times they escape damage even when the rest of the internal parts are trashed.

Do yourself a favor and take the box apart, I have a feeling once you see how few moving parts are in there you may want to tackle the job yourself. They are REALLY simple boxes to rebuild.

 

Vern Tardel offers a rebuild booklet for early Ford steering. I have all four of his "help" booklets and appreciate the tips and instructions:

http://www.verntardel.com/collections/books

 

Thanks for the tips, guys, much appreciated. I dont know where I got the idea that '40 boxes where hard to rebuild, but I had that in my head for some reason.

Now to find the parts . . .

 

those 40 ford boxes are super easy to rebuild you can still access all the part s and it ll probably take less the a hour for the whole rebuild.. tell me what you need via pm and i can probally get you nos parts for the box

 

The vern Tardel booklet covers F1 and F-100 steering boxes, but not the earlier Ford steering boxes (as I understand it from looking at the link).

It would be great if a repair instruction booklet were available for the '37 - 48 Ford steering boxes.

 

Here is what I found on the Early Ford Store's website - they offer rebuild kits:

1937-1948 Steering Box Rebuild Kit
[78-3503-RBLDKIT] $199.00
1937-1948 Steering Box Rebuild Kit

Complete rebuild kit for 1937-1948 steering boxes. Freshen up your worn steering box with this kit. This package will provide you with all the necessary bearings, bearing races, worm gear, sector roller gear, bushings, and gaskets and seal necessary to completely rebuild your steering box.

* Bearings supplied in kit are high quality Timken.

 

Thanks for the input and for the offer; much appreciated. I think at this point I have it all handled, but if I end up needing parts, I'll give you a shout.

Maybe (if I get brave) I'll even do a Tech Thread on the rebuild, as there seems to be some demand for the information here on the HAMB.

Thanks again to everyone who responded.

 

The March '74 Street rodder magazie had a good, photo illustrated article about rebuilding '40 Ford steering boxes. It was written by Frank Oddo. I'll bet someone on the HAMB has a copy, and can send you a photo copy or can scan and post it. Or see if there is a copy for sale on ebay. He gives some good tips on the tricky parts of the rebuild.

 

fear of the unknown.

 

Shamer - Thanks for the steering box and column! It was great to meet you and see your '40 pickup as well; that is going to be one sweet driving truck when you're finished. Let's stay in touch. Enjoy the Coronas!

 

^^^ That's pretty much the route I took to save time (I am sprucing the truck up to give to my dad as a surprise present very soon), but I'm going to rebuild the original one to use on a future project.

I'll post pictures when I do it. Have a great weekend, everyone - Terry

 

anyone have the part numbers for the rebuild parts?

thanks!

 

i bought a rebuild kit from early ford store for a 48 f1 box and it worked out great. they got everything you ll need. however i ran into a problem with a pitted sector shaft and ended up using two boxes to make one nice one.

 

If you can't find enough serviceable pirces, and / or replacement parts, there is always the VEGA, unit, and there are a lot of mounts available to bolt it right in the original location. 4TTRUK

 

Really?? No welding involved? where would one find this info? Please

 

If you can find a good mid-size GM box of '60s vintage (mine came out of a '64 Chevelle), the Ford pitman arm will fit the splines on the GM box.