7 tooth steering gear help

I have a 29 phaeton with a 7-tooth steering gear. I was rebuilding the lower worm and sector, but they look in good shape, so I kept the worm and the sector shaft. I followed the instructions in the Les Andrews book and got as far as the end play adjustment for the steering sector. The steering shaft has little end play after putting in some shims. The shaft meshed well with the sector shaft, but the area of mesh contact seems far too small. .
The problem is the steering sector. When I install the sector including the thrust washer there is about 3/8 inch end play. I have adjusted the steering thrust screw as far down as possible, but it makes no contact. I added another thrust washer, and the end play still is huge. No contact at all with the thrust screw plate.
Also, the housing cover (marked A 3580) seems to have the angled threaded hole for the thrust screw at the wrong angle for the end of the sector shaft. The plate does not match the sector face. Is that correct?
I am not new at this and have rebuilt 2 tooth assembles several times. This one has me stumped. I believe the car had lots of steering slop when I last drove it, but it was several years ago. What am I doing wrong? Help.

You (or someone) haven't "flipped" the cover that covers the sector have you? The cover is installed with the "proud" side towards the sector. The "concave side" goes on the outside.

Discounting the thrust screw tapping, the cover is left-right identical (as you look at it) so it technically is possible to be installed "inversed."



Joe K

George Goodridge said:

The steering shaft has little end play after putting in some shims.

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The shaft is NOT the worm. A little "up-down" is permissible of the steering wheel shaft. But its the worm position/movement which determines any "free-motion" of the sector.

I did my two on the bench using paper shims that come in the kits. As I said I SUBTRACTED shims to "tighten up" the free motion of the worm (and reduce worm lateral/up-down to essentially zero) until the worm started to "turn hard" with the steering shaft/wheel. Then put back in the thinnest paper shim I had to achieve a "easy turn with minimal sector movement" condition.

Joe K

Joe K said:

The shaft is NOT the worm. A little "up-down" is permissible of the steering wheel shaft. But its the worm position/movement which determines any "free-motion" of the sector.

I did my two on the bench using paper shims that come in the kits. As I said I SUBTRACTED shims to "tighten up" the free motion of the worm (and reduce worm lateral/up-down to essentially zero) until the worm started to "turn hard" with the steering shaft/wheel. Then put back in the thinnest paper shim I had to achieve a "easy turn with minimal sector movement" condition.

Joe K

Click to expand...

Thanks, Joe. Yes, the problem was that the housing cover was reversed. It never occurred to me that the housing cover could be reversed. It was painted and installed when I bought the car. It seems obvious in retrospect, I live and learn despite several decades tinkering with Model As. In fairness, this is the first 7 tooth I've worked on. The part number is now on the outside and the "proud" side faces the sector.
I understand your comment about the worm and the shaft; I was imprecise in my first message. The worm and shaft seem fine. There is a small amount of endplay after I added several shims on the shaft. With only two paper gaskets, the shaft locked tight. I added two shims and it turns easily without binding. I had added two new thrust bearings that may have changed the length.
BTW, I was able to buy a set of thin metal shims from Sacramental Ford. The east coast vendors were out of stock or discontinued. The prior owner had used grease for lubrication. I am using 600w plus some Australian super goo (Penrite Semi Fluid & Steering Box Lube) as suggested by the forum here.
Again thanks for the good advice.
George

I'm glad you sorted it out. Sometimes you take something apart - some time passes - and you can't remember exactly how it should go together again.

I'm currently working on a LH E-brake handle from the AA Farm Truck. The LH handle is not really described in the literature, and some springs and do-dads are peculiar to that handle - the center/right handles are distinctly "different" from it.

And even the parts vendors don't necessarily describe the parts well - or even differentiate the components from those of the later handles.

So I found ANOTHER LH handle on Ebay. That's now the model for re-assembling the handle from the AA truck.

Good luck driving forward...

Joe K