'39 Steering Box/ Horn - Light rod and End cap

Hivolt5.0

Hivolt5.0

Senior Member
Hopefully the Title covers everything, haha.

The steering box on this 39 Ford Deluxe was leaking and a good friend, 40 Cpe, here on the FordBarn told me about the common problem where the brass tube that attaches to the end plate will crack/break. So I pulled the end cap off the steering box last night and this is what I found.

The end cap came off by itself and I had to pull the brass tube out of the steering box.
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As you can see, the brass tube has a nice flare on its end, but the cap also has a brass fitting in it (this is the exterior side of the cap).
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And this is what the other side of the cap looks like (the side that faces inside the steering box).
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The brass tube is the same diameter as the brass fitting in the end cap and thus will not slide in it.

What should I do? Do I leave the brass fitting in the end cap and silver solder the brass tube to the back of it? Or do I remove the brass fitting from the end cap and slide the brass tube in the end cap?

I would appreciate any advice you guys can provide.

thanks
David
 
The tube was originally crimped to the end cap. The tube broke off leaving the crimped piece in the cap. The tube needs to be soldered back in place to stop the oil from leaking out.
 
Oh, I think I understand what you're saying. The crimping process would have flattened the tube to make the seal around the cap. It just so happened the the tube broke away from the crimp in a perfect circular fashion. Half of the crimp remained on the tube and the other half of the crimp remained on the end cap.

so, I should remove the remaining bits of brass from the end cap, then slide and solder the tube in the end cap?
 
IMO, I would not shorten the brass rod by removing the short old end. I would solder it to the old short end as well as to the steel end plate. You will have to remove plating on the steel in order to get the solder to stick. Make sure the tube is at right angle to the steel end plate.
 
I don't know how much "fudge factor" there is in the length of the tube, but I just reattached my broken piece through the hole in the cap and it works fine.
 
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