Finished rebuilding a '65 800 series power steering box and all seemed fine. It sat on the shelf for a few months and as I was prepping for install noticed it was now a 3.5 turn box with a hitch. I disassembled it and found one of the worm gear ball bearings somehow escaped and worked it's way to the end of the shaft. After verifying I had all 22 bearings they were reinstalled in the correct alternating (large/small) order and the box now has the expected 4-1/8 turns. My only concern is, as I didn't think to check prior to o-haul, there's a solid stop in one direction while the opposite stop feels a bit mushy. I noted this similar action when I had the escaped ball bearing. Should note -- I have yet to reapply the proper preload adjustments after this second time 'round. What I can say is she's a smooth 4-1/8 turn box with a measured 82° output shaft sweep. I'm hoping someone can provide insight as to whether both stops should be a nearly metel-to-metal clunk. I'm hoping it's normal action for the worm gear design to be ever so slightly mushy at one travel stop considering the knuckle steering stops should come into play before the box hits travel limits.
I rebuilt a bunch of Saginaw power steering boxes back in the mid 70's but don't remember anything about how they sounded or felt when they hit the stops. As long as they turned smoothly and centered right I felt pretty good.
The Jalopy Journal
