Sector Housing Bushings

dmaxweb

dmaxweb

Well-known member
I need to replace the bushings in the 2 tooth steering sector housing. In the suppliers catalogs the bushings have an oil hole in the side which they say must be aligned correctly.

The bushings in there now have the helix oil grooves and I understand which end should be pressed in/out but they do not have a hole. There is no grease fitting in the sector housing. Should there be one?

I know I could buy a rebuilt sector housing with needle bearings for $50 but new bushings are are only $5.
 
Well good luck!!!!!

Synders, Brattons, and Mac's do not sell the correct size bushings. You will find Les and others have the shaft size wrong.

The bushings are lubricated by a groove in the bushing that allows the oil to flow. There is also a slot to allow the oil in between the bushings to lube the outer bushing.

The bushings MUST be precision align honed to final size, unless you like slop in your steering and more opportunity for the oil to leak out. It is not very expensive and will make a difference.

Click Here for my Details on steering sectors based on my experiences.

The needle bearings are hit and miss. Some have had great success. Others have had troubles. The problem with the needle bearings is the brinelling. The needles have a small contact area and the shaft is too soft for the bearings. So they will make little dents in the sector shaft surface. This makes for a sector that does not want to turn and eventually the needles break.
My brothers car has had the needles since 1970 with no problems. His car also probably has the Argentine steering sector. He wonders of his was not hardened more and therefore happy with the needle bearings. While we are machining up a sector for my car he will go back to bushings. Properly done bushings are likely to out last a few owners.
 
I was unable to locate a close enough to ready correct bushings. Best I can tell a ready to use bushing does not exist, but I am not very experienced at locating bushings. By ready to use, I mean one that is under size enough that it can be pressed in and honed to the correct size and be round.

We bought bushing stock. It is not very expensive.

I turned the OD on the lathe and did a very course rough in on the ID. Pressed them in the housing and my brother got it to honing size on his Bridgeport Mill. Then honed them to custom size on the Sunnen Hone.

The sectors we are using are some very nice used we pulled. They had around .002 to .004" of wear. My brother made them round on his crank grinder. The under size is not a problem since we make our own bushings.

This may be crude, but we cut the oil groove with a Dremel.

I like to find simple solutions with more common tool, but this one only seems properly solved with complex expensive tools.
 
Kevin in NJ said:
Synders, Brattons, and Mac's do not sell the correct size bushings.
Click to expand...

Just exactly what is so incorrect about their bushings? I've built probably a dozen boxes in the past couple of years and have yet to have a problem with any of them.


Deron
 
forever4 said:
If you look at the bushings, you should see that the helix on one end runs out to the edge, and that end goes to the center of the housing for both bushings. The helix on the other ends of the bushing stops short of the edge, and that edge goes to the ends of the housing.
Click to expand...

I know about the helix orientation, but the picture on Bratton's web site (part #5370) appears to show a round hole in the side of the bushing. I'm wondering now if this is really a dimple and not a hole or maybe just the picture. Anyway, now that it's Monday, I'm going to call them and ask about it.

Has anyone had a problem with the size of these bushing as Kevin indicated in his post above?
 
The bushings being sold by the parts houses listed above are apparently truck king pin bushings.

When a bushing is installed it deforms some must always be reamed or better, honed to round and size. The installed bushings from the parts vendors will seem to be a nice tight fit on a new shaft. The problem is the tightness comes from the distorted bushing. If you insert the shaft and work it around some you will see the high spots. If you take the new bushings round then you have a few thousands play or more which is worse than the wear you find on used sectors.
If you use the bushings without making them round then the high spots will wear rapidly leaving you with loose bushings that leak. So how many guys have reasonably recently rebuilt boxes that leak?

I would say that a lot of guys would buy the bushing and install them. They find the sector fits in snug and use it that way. How many guys own and use micrometers and dial calipers all the time? I have dial calipers laying around because I use them all the time. A surprisingly large amount of parts Ford made needs to be checked to the .001" to determine if they are usable.

Go to the link I put in my first post to read all about the problem with the sectors.

No, I have not checked A&L's bushings. I list the clevite bushing number so you can get the specs and find out what they are selling to see if theirs has an ID small enough to be honed out to fit a standard sized sector. In my view point, I would prefer to grind the shaft of a worn original sector with minor wear on the tooth faces then use the repro. This would require a bushing with an undersized ID to match.
 
dmaxweb said:
Has anyone had a problem with the size of these bushing as Kevin indicated in his post above?
Click to expand...

There is no problem with the currently available bushings. Just like any other bushings they will need to be honed to the correct size after they're installed, and the easiest way to do that is to take your housing and your new sector shaft to your locak speed shop and have them hone it on their Sunnen machine that they use for connecting rods. An even better solution is to have a machine shop counterbore the outer end of the sector housing and install the commonly available seal. You'll need to have this done after the bushings are installed and honed because a small amount of the outer bushing will be trimmed away. Be aware though, if 100% authenticity is your deal, the seal can be visible through the hole in the frame if you know what you're looking for.

Kevin in NJ said:
So how many guys have reasonably recently rebuilt boxes that leak?
Click to expand...

None so far...:rolleyes: I don't recall a single instance where I've installed new bushings that the sector shaft would even go in before they were honed to size.


Deron
 
dlshady said:
There is no problem with the currently available bushings. Just like any other bushings they will need to be honed to the correct size after they're installed,

Deron
Click to expand...

Deron,

Which bushings are you using?
Please give the details. What size fit do you go for?

I know for fact the Clevite 0978 the equivalent being sold by some parts houses will result in a hole too large for a NOS sector. I put some 978's in and found I can put a new sector shaft in the hole without honing. There is no way they should be used.

BTW, we have our own machine shop so we do the work in house.
 
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