Henryat1140
Senior Member
'37 Steering box in '36 car part 2.
Warning - long and boring unless you are doing the swap.
The original article on doing this was published by Flatheadfan and it is still the most comprehensive set of instructions. It can be found online by doing a Google search or you can get a copy by contacting him on FB.
The procedures and tips here are meant to supplement what he has written.
Today we finished up the 37 box into 36 car upgrade. In the interest of sharing information for others who might be doing this, here are some tips and techniques we learned while doing the swap:
* If you have an original 37 bracket it's probably not painted on the back side. With it out of the car you can hit the back surface with Rustoleum.
* The holes in the frame and in the 37 bracket are just a few thousandths too small for 3/8 bolts. I used a 3/8 drill and made the holes 3/8, then bolted the '37 bracket to the frame with grade five 3/8" hardware.
* We had already removed the speedometer because we were going to replace it, but in retrospect, it's only held in with three nuts, and it makes reaching the bolts on the top of the column drop very easy to get to. So you might want to just pop it out in the interest of convenience.
* JM35Sedan drilled several small adjacent holes in the head of the security bolt on the column drop. Then angling the drill, removed the walls between the holes, thus making a slot. With a hand-held impact driver he loosened and removed the security bolt. This is a key step. Being able to move the tube upward within the drop was a good thing because doing so allowed us to get away without moving the locking collar.
* We installed the three bolts thru the steering gear into the bracket and tightened them loosely, we used lock washers because the '37 bracket is a little thicker and the cotter pin holes were not in view. Next came the two bolts in the column drop also loosely installed. That allowed us to move the outer tube upward, which thereby avoided having to deal with moving the locking collar. We loosely installed the bolt through the clamp at the base of the tube. Now with all of these in place we tightened the bolts alternately and in small increments until we had everything snugged up then final tightened.
* We temporarily installed the steering wheel and rotated it to the ends of travel then established the center of travel and installed the Pitman arm. It takes a 1 7/16" 3/4 drive socket. The Pitman arm has a locating spline and you have to make sure it mates up with the steering shaft.
* We reinstalled the Brusegard upper steering bearing and final installed the steering wheel.
THE HORN ROD
We got really stuck on this and it took the better part of two hours to get by the hurdle. Remember my suggestion about being absolutely careful about putting any kind of bend in the horn rod? When we went to install the horn rod it was interfering with the steering shaft so when you turned the wheel, the horn rod turned too. You can't have this because it will turn the lights on and off as you turn the steering wheel. So you have to work on the horn rod to make it as straight and smooth as possible.
Here is a list of things we did to make the horn rod fit and rotate smoothly:
-Took emery paper and polished the entire length of the horn rod
-With emery paper smoothed the joint where the rod is formed. It looked like it was tacked or welded and there was a small protruding bead which we removed.
-Used a round file to smooth the upper and lower inside diameters of the steering shaft just in case there was a burr.
-Worked on the small brass bushing at the top of the rod so make sure there were no burrs. We put the bushing on a tapered punch and gently tapped on it to make it as round as possible and to remove any small burrs on it.
-We used a small amount of light oil on the rod when trial fitting it.
-We used a sheet rock T square to check for straightness. We held the rod next to the long side of the T square and that showed some slight bending which we removed by bending the rod opposite. It took about ten tries before we got it straight working a little at a time.
-We learned the best way to install the horn rod was to put the small brass bushing in the top of the steering shaft THEN insert the horn rod.
After all this fiddling we got the horn rod to remain stationary when turning the steering wheel.
* Toeboard. This will require reshaping as outlined in Flatheadfan's article. We had to take out about 3/4" of an inch so the toe board would install correctly. We are still working on how to make up a seal for this part of the toeboard.
The brains behind doing the swap was JM35Sedan, and the grunt work was done by VeryTangled. It took about 1 1/2 days total to do the job.
Was it worth it? Yes. There is a greatly reduced amount of effort needed to steer the car, especially at low speeds. The two absolute hardest parts are removing the '36 bracket rivets and getting the horn rod installed so it does not bind.
I hope these tips benefit others who may be doing the same job, and apologize for being so long winded. If you have already done the swap chime in with any tips you might have.
Henry
Warning - long and boring unless you are doing the swap.
The original article on doing this was published by Flatheadfan and it is still the most comprehensive set of instructions. It can be found online by doing a Google search or you can get a copy by contacting him on FB.
The procedures and tips here are meant to supplement what he has written.
Today we finished up the 37 box into 36 car upgrade. In the interest of sharing information for others who might be doing this, here are some tips and techniques we learned while doing the swap:
* If you have an original 37 bracket it's probably not painted on the back side. With it out of the car you can hit the back surface with Rustoleum.
* The holes in the frame and in the 37 bracket are just a few thousandths too small for 3/8 bolts. I used a 3/8 drill and made the holes 3/8, then bolted the '37 bracket to the frame with grade five 3/8" hardware.
* We had already removed the speedometer because we were going to replace it, but in retrospect, it's only held in with three nuts, and it makes reaching the bolts on the top of the column drop very easy to get to. So you might want to just pop it out in the interest of convenience.
* JM35Sedan drilled several small adjacent holes in the head of the security bolt on the column drop. Then angling the drill, removed the walls between the holes, thus making a slot. With a hand-held impact driver he loosened and removed the security bolt. This is a key step. Being able to move the tube upward within the drop was a good thing because doing so allowed us to get away without moving the locking collar.
* We installed the three bolts thru the steering gear into the bracket and tightened them loosely, we used lock washers because the '37 bracket is a little thicker and the cotter pin holes were not in view. Next came the two bolts in the column drop also loosely installed. That allowed us to move the outer tube upward, which thereby avoided having to deal with moving the locking collar. We loosely installed the bolt through the clamp at the base of the tube. Now with all of these in place we tightened the bolts alternately and in small increments until we had everything snugged up then final tightened.
* We temporarily installed the steering wheel and rotated it to the ends of travel then established the center of travel and installed the Pitman arm. It takes a 1 7/16" 3/4 drive socket. The Pitman arm has a locating spline and you have to make sure it mates up with the steering shaft.
* We reinstalled the Brusegard upper steering bearing and final installed the steering wheel.
THE HORN ROD
We got really stuck on this and it took the better part of two hours to get by the hurdle. Remember my suggestion about being absolutely careful about putting any kind of bend in the horn rod? When we went to install the horn rod it was interfering with the steering shaft so when you turned the wheel, the horn rod turned too. You can't have this because it will turn the lights on and off as you turn the steering wheel. So you have to work on the horn rod to make it as straight and smooth as possible.
Here is a list of things we did to make the horn rod fit and rotate smoothly:
-Took emery paper and polished the entire length of the horn rod
-With emery paper smoothed the joint where the rod is formed. It looked like it was tacked or welded and there was a small protruding bead which we removed.
-Used a round file to smooth the upper and lower inside diameters of the steering shaft just in case there was a burr.
-Worked on the small brass bushing at the top of the rod so make sure there were no burrs. We put the bushing on a tapered punch and gently tapped on it to make it as round as possible and to remove any small burrs on it.
-We used a small amount of light oil on the rod when trial fitting it.
-We used a sheet rock T square to check for straightness. We held the rod next to the long side of the T square and that showed some slight bending which we removed by bending the rod opposite. It took about ten tries before we got it straight working a little at a time.
-We learned the best way to install the horn rod was to put the small brass bushing in the top of the steering shaft THEN insert the horn rod.
After all this fiddling we got the horn rod to remain stationary when turning the steering wheel.
* Toeboard. This will require reshaping as outlined in Flatheadfan's article. We had to take out about 3/4" of an inch so the toe board would install correctly. We are still working on how to make up a seal for this part of the toeboard.
The brains behind doing the swap was JM35Sedan, and the grunt work was done by VeryTangled. It took about 1 1/2 days total to do the job.
Was it worth it? Yes. There is a greatly reduced amount of effort needed to steer the car, especially at low speeds. The two absolute hardest parts are removing the '36 bracket rivets and getting the horn rod installed so it does not bind.
I hope these tips benefit others who may be doing the same job, and apologize for being so long winded. If you have already done the swap chime in with any tips you might have.
Henry
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