The guy at the machine shop (south Austin Machine) tells me that the bushing for the F-1 end of my box is spinning when he goes to hone it. The Model A bushing fits fine though. Could he add some lock tight, then hone it, or is there some trick to honing out the sector shaft bushings? I mean it is probably only a couple thousanths off or so, AND the steering sector shaft isn't spinning 5000 RPMs, so some locktight should do the trick?
yeah, the loctite brand GREEN RETAINING COMPOND fills oblonged voids in a cylindrical shape up to .0008 i believe. Depends on how bad the bushing is worn i guess.
I realize that..Just have the machine shop make a new bushing from bar stock with an oversize OD. !/2 hour job at most.
When I picked up my F-1 box from getting honed, the machinist said it spun a little, but he got it honed anyway. Not sure if that meant it finally stuck, or it's the same all around? Seems to work OK. Glue yours with some Locktite and take it back again.
It's primarily an engine machine shop, and I don't think they do that type of stuff. I wish I had a go to guy here that I could get little shit like this done at, and wasn't an arm and a leg.
Get you some oil lite bronze and make one on a lathe. Take maybe 3 minutes but i would not use locktite on it though
Best way would be to have correct size bushing made - which has already said. If I were in your situation I'd probably give it a go myself by staking or gluing it in place then getting after it with a brake cylinder hone. But I happen to have a go to guy who rules little stuff like this and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
There are a lot of tricks. Clamp the bushing in a vice with a big file and pound on the end of the file (poor man's knurling) Is it a steel bushing? Then you can take a chunk of uncoated bronz rod in an arc welder and just drag it around on the sureface, I have tightened the fit on many a loose race that way. The gree loctite works some but that stuff really sticks stuff together, expect to use heet if it ever needs to come apart again.
Take a center punch and pop some dents which will crater up on the outside of the center punch hit in the steering box bore for the bushing. About 10-12 ought to raise the inner surface. Put some red LocTite in the bore then tap the bushing in place. Red LocTite is made for this purpose. An old oil field mechanics trick that works and the repairs last a long time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm a little confused about the green LocTite though. I used to use it on my dirt bikes and it was advertised as a locking compound that weeped into the threads of already assembled bolts & nuts. It worked fine for that and beat taking every bolt out etc. and using blue LocTite to lock the bolts in. Never heard - which doesn't mean much - of green LocTite for a bushing lock or that it fills voids. Seems to me that's what red LocTite is for.
I have a big bottle of the green stuff and I remember it specifically said it would fill a void up to .00X - forget the actual number. Funny - I've never heard of it as something which would weep into assembled parts. (might say that on the bottle too though) I do know it is pretty strong stuff and I used it on stuff like the bolts that held my steering box. The center punch trick you outlined is what I was thinking of when I mentioned staking.
Carrol Smith's fastener book noted that the green was actually marketed in two different package/application forms containing same chemical. Can Loctite work on oilite bushings?? I'd tend to doubt it, but don't know.
I wasn't doubting what was said and figured I was probably behind the times . . . first time that ever happened. No kidding, the stake a bunch of whatever the heck you call the center punch mark works. Some of the stuff my dad did like that is still running 30 years down the road. He fixed diffs the same way, instead of buying a new one, he staked and assembled. Viewed by some as a temporary fix - usually the parts replacer guys - but it was permanent in all cases I heard about. And if you like that you'd really enjoy the fire suppression systems on some oil field equipment that used a white cotton string for the trigger. And since I'm talking about the oil fields, the welders there are true artists. Not the welding bit so much - and most of them are very good - but the artistry in fabrication and clever fixes they came up with. Somebody ought to shoot pics and make a coffee table book on the things these guys did. Along with the clever fixes to keep the oil field pumping oil. None of this waiting a week for parts while the well was down, fix it with what you had and get er up and running in less than a day in most cases....
Not all bushings are oilite, but you know that. I think the red loctite would do the trick. It's advertised as a shaft bushing lock product. And . . . there's always JB Weld . . . fixed an airplane with the stuff one time. In a non-critical area of the door, then again, doors are handy in airplanes....
If his bushings are anything like the repros I purchased, they are plain brass, not oilite. They are a thin wall sheet rolled into a bushing shape, but not welded into a continuous circle. They are kinda flimsy and seem like they could use a "gluing" even if they didn't spin. Would take a whole lotta drivin to wear them out again, so I'd bet he won't be the guy worried about getting them out again. As for staking, I think he'd never be able to get the punch very far into the hole. Maybe stake the outer 1/2 inch, but couldn't reach farther than that.
I have used the Green on cam bearings, and cylinder sleeves, stuff that has its own strong press fit. The Blue is stronger and is good for holding things like a balancer bolt, pulley bolts etc, that you don't want spinning out from inertia, but you plan to take apart again. Red is permanent, it shouldn't be used on anything you don't plan to destroy taking back apart. Heat is usually needed to get the stuff apart with the red stuff. Devcon makes a good product too for aluminum, its is non-ferritic but otherwise like JB Weld. I have repaired motorcycle cases with it, and you will have to machine it when it sets up. If you pin a crack in to stop it, you can fill it with Devcon and pink stone it flat. I have a couple of repairs still going with it. If your steering box were run out, this stuff would make a good backing for a solid bushing after a good reaming.
For general info the best Loctite retainer for heavy duty aplications is the #680. It used to be called grade A but times change. It is green.
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