Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Private_collector]

Sector shaft 1.jpg Sector shaft 3.jpg Worm gear.jpg
Pulled apart the other steering box today, and found both the sector shaft and worm gear are almost perfect and certainly worthy of use.
Steering box case primed.jpg
Box case also cleaned thoroughly and primed. Thats as far as I can go with it until I locate a new seal for sector shaft. Betwen the two boxes I have now disassembled, there are two very good bearings that I can use (both the worm gear shaft bearings are identical).
Chassis stand.jpg
To top the weekend off, I have done one of the stands the chassis will be sitting on while I re-install some of the sub assemblies. It would be nice to put this stand to use some time in the near future. I believe next week the work willl start on chassis blasting & repairs. The stand has been designed to raise & lower using a bottle jack and the 4 locking pins. There's around $100 worth of materials used. Other one will be more costly, I ran out of MIG wire today.

[Keith Webb]

You're fortunate to have such a good sector shaft, Tony. Treat it with great care. This was one of the very under-engineered parts of Ford CMPs up till around 1944, no wonder they redesigned it. Does anyone have an exact date when the '400' type steering box and 6" steering ends were introduced in production?

[Jacques Reed]

Thats as far as I can go with it until I locate a new seal for sector shaft. Betwen the two boxes I have now disassembled, there are two very good bearings that I can use (both the worm gear shaft bearings are identical).

Hi Tony,

Hope this is not a "how to suck eggs type reply" and my apology if it is but I have found over the years that many seals for CMP's are still available as newly manufactured items at local bearing and seal businesses. I was obsessed in the early days with original items until I got a few pitted NOS bearings and hardened seals. My Chief Engineer when I was at sea put me in the picture with bearings and seals and suggested most would still be off the shelf items. Best advice he ever gave me.
It sure beats running all over the country for NOS items that are as as old and hard as dinosaur droppings.
I have replaced most trans, diff, xfer case, and even my sector shaft seal from items obtained at CBC and other retailers. Likewise diff, trans, and wheel bearings. Now I take a sample in and more often than not it can be matched. Ditto NOS versus new U-Joints. All mine are Hardy Spicer of recent manufacture.
Hope this might also help those new to vehicle restoration and save hours of needless searching.

Brgds,

[T Creighton]

Box case also cleaned thoroughly and primed. Thats as far as I can go with it until I locate a new seal for sector shaft. Betwen the two boxes I have now disassembled, there are two very good bearings that I can use (both the worm gear shaft bearings are identical).

Hi Tony, I guess you have noticed that the bottom cup is a lot heavier than the top one. My bearing supplier sourced some new ones from Melbourne. Also have a good feel of the rotation of the sector shaft roller. The needle bearings inside have a habit of collapsing. Good luck. Your thread is really interesting.
Regards Terry.

[Private_collector]

Jacques,

All helpful advice greatly received! The seal part no. is 81T 3591, and I am now checking with a couple of places online. If no good, I will call into Gympie Bearing Service tomorrow. They take the time to look things up, instead of just saying NO can't get it.

I have bought several NOS seals in past and not all were in perfect shape. I agree with you, if available new, go with new!

Terry,

The sector shaft roller bearing is in good shape on one of my steering boxes. I hadn't noticed the difference in bearing cups, because only the lower one is out. Top one is still firmly lodged in place. Looks visually good though, which suits me fine. I didn't fancy getting that one out.

Here's a question you will probably both know. When I put a seal, bearing or cup number into search etc.., I often find items of same number BUT the prefix may be different (in this case I mean the '81T' part). Are these always different to what I want, or are there chance of being correct still. I have avoided biding/buying anything like this until I find the answer to that question.

For example: Macsauto has a steering sector shaft seal - Ford passenger, Part No. 48-3591. Obviously cant tell anything from the picture on website.

[Private_collector]

Macsauto do have the actual seal I was talking about, 81T-3591, at $3.15 each.

Just found it in their catalog, along with the correct bearings and bearing cups for worm gear & sector shaft needle bearing!

Was in "V8 Ford Pickup 32-47" catalog.

Guess I better get the credit card out again

These are what I will order:
*81T-3591 Steering Sector Shaft Seal Retainer - Ford Truck Except 122 Inch Wheelbase
x1 $3.15

*B-3517 Upper Steering Column Rubber Bushing - Ford Commercial Truck
x1 $4.95

*81T-3571 Steering Worm Gear Bearing - Ford 2 Ton Truck Except 122 Inch Wheelbase Truck
x1 $8.80

*A14585S Wire Clip Set - On Frame - 1/2" X 1-3/4" Long - 10 Pieces - Ford
x1 $1.75 (for wiring along chassis)

*B-3593-A Steering Shim Gasket - .003" Thick Paper - Ford
x2 $1.90

*B-3593-C Steering Shim Gasket - .010" Thick Paper - Ford
x1 $0.95

Catalog - 1909-1927 Model T & TT - 2012-2013 Issue - USA
$0.00

Catalog - 1928-1931 Model A & AA - 2012-13 Issue - Foreign
$0.00

Added 10/10/12: These parts have arrived today, and despite being the matching part numbers, both seal and bearing are most definately NOT THE CORRECT PARTS for the CMP. I will write to Macs when I can and discuss this with them. Do NOT purchase these parts in expectation of rebuilding the Ford 375 series steering box!!!!

[T Creighton]

You are on the right track with those numbers Tony. You will see that the number 3591 pertains to the seal regardless of which model vehicle it is. The 81T prefix is correct for the earlier lighter box. 70 3591 is the seal for the later(from engine no. 2G-7047F) heavier box.
Terry.

[Jacques Reed]

Here's another handy hint from my days at sea discussing business with the Chief Engineer:

To remove bearing cups in places inaccessable to pullers:

Fire up your welder, be it stick or mig and put one bead of weld on one side of the cup only. This causes the cup to deform inwards when it cools and the cup will practically drop out.
We changed hundreds of conveyor roller cups this way and I can vouch that it worked perfectly on removing the inner bearing races of my CMP truck diffs.

Hope you find this interesting and helpful.

Best Regards

[Jacques Reed]

Meant to post a photo of the replaced inner bearing cup on the CMP diff in previous post.

I replaced the crown and pinion at the same time with NOS items. Note the thin copper plating on the pinion. I believe this was done from the factory to aid bedding in of the teeth on the two items.

I found many years ago that often the crown and pinion are highly pitted in the area immersed in oil if they have not moved for decades. As unlikely as this may seem, this is because bacteria in the oil create an acid that attacks the immersed parts.
So those "rare" "hard to find" Ebay items are often just overpriced scrap metal. Caveat emptor!

Regards,