Steering shaft issues

[Ken Model A]

Well, I did it now. I am working on a 1930 Fordoor steering column. This has been setting in a barn since 1960. The throttle and spark advance rods are froze. The steering column is out of the car. When using a puller on the steering wheel, the steering shaft split. I realize the shaft is done, but I would like to save the steering wheel. I made a shaft and collar to fit inside of the steering shaft so I can press on the shaft. I did measure the extended length of the shaft before I split it so I can verify the length. So, do I just keep the pressure on the steering wheel and tap the puller as normal to remove the wheel? Is there a better way? Thanks, Ken

 

[nkaminar]

That area of the 30-31 steering shaft is very thin and easily damaged. You are not the first nor the last. Instructions for the steering wheel puller from Snyders is on their site at https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/content/Snyders/Product_PDFs/A-3600-P%20steering%20wheel%20puller%20instructions.pdf.

I just repaired a 29 steering system, 7 tooth. The control rods were frozen like yours. I managed to put them out a bit and then used some of the yellow Timesaver on the shaft and pushed it back in. After working the levers back and forth for a while they became easier to move. I repeated this until I could pull them out. I then reamed the bearing block at the top for a better fit to the rods. The bearing block on the 29 is pot metal which swells after a while and closes up on the shafts, and steering wheel shaft.

I see the original bearings at the top of the steering column on the 2 tooth box were zinc and the replacements are aluminum.

Depending on you machining and welding skill, and equipment available, you may be able to save the shaft. We in the Model A world are spoiled because we can just replace parts, whereas for other cars the parts must be rebuilt or made new.

 

[Rob Doe]

Ken, I may be mistaken but, as a kid of 17, I took the steering wheel off my coupe. In the process, either the threads on the shaft were already partially cracked or I did it pulling the wheel. Leaving my girlfriend's house one winter night, snow on the roads, about 10 degrees, 1:00 am, I decided to check the end play adjustment as I tooled toward home. I pulled up and down and the wheel came off in my hand, horn rod and all.

I turned the key off and the car came to a stop in a snow bank. I put the wheel back on the key and held down all the way home. I found the nut and half of the threads in the floor the next day.

I believe that I recently saw a repair for the shaft of cutting off the bad threads, cutting internal threads for a special bolt that would screw into the new internal threads. The head of the bolt was rounded in a lathe and the proper size threads for the original nut were cut in it. At least one of the vendors sell this special bolt, so they said.

 

[Phil Brown]

Mikes"A"Ford-Able.com
Try #A3526T

 

[Ken Model A]

Thank you for the help.
Ken

 

[rotorwrench]

New steering shafts with or without worm are available. The thread repair nipple is available but it is only for the threaded area above the taper. If it is broken below the taper then the shaft is history.

The early 1930 models with the Gemmer steering gear used the shorter shaft like the 43" 1929 Gemmer shaft. Somewhere around the 1st of February 1930 they went to the one inch longer shaft. I believe they are 44 inches long.

I used the new aluminum top bushing but it does have to be set in the proper centered location. I had to bust out the old die cast bushing. I had replated control lever rods so I had the fit them to the new aluminum bushing.

All of this was done when shortening a 1930/31 Gemmer column to a 1929 short version of the same. I used the early type lever quadrant that works with the 1929 steering wheel. It took me a while to get all the lengths and centering correct. I must have looked at at least 50 photos of the 1929 type to get it as close as I could to the OEM unit.