What happened with my steering?

[1938 Coupe]

I replaced my steering wheel with a banjo type wheel. I pulled the horn button
after dismantling the light switch and removing the 4 bolts that held the whole thing together. After putting on the new steering wheel and locking nut I wanted to take it for a test ride without replacing the horn button. I was going to clean and repaint everything but the horn button itself. I figured the car would be fine without replacing those items until I could have time to paint them.
The more I drove the car around the steering was getting more and more play in it. Now it is unsafe to drive and you can move the wheel more than a half turn each way before the front wheels will respond. What happened and how can I fix this?
Any help here will be appreciated!....Thanks

 

[Andy]

It may be that those 4 bolts held the lower bearing retainer which held the lower bearing in place. Without that part the oil will run out and the lower bearing will likely fall out. You may need the bearing plus a gasket kit. I hope no damage was done to the other parts.

 

[JSeery]

The four bolts you removed (if they were the ones on the bottom of the housing) are what hold the steering box together. You are very lucky you didn't have more trouble than you appear to have had! Are the parts all still there? That plate retains the bearing and sets the adjustment, so there may be several issues to resolve now. You need to determine if any parts are missing, then if the bearing will go back into place and also if there is any damage to the bearing races. Then you are going to have to recheck the bearing load to assure it is correct. These is adjusted by the number of gaskets between the cover and the housing. Also have to see if any of the existing gaskets are damaged and need to be replaced. It is possible that the steering box is so damaged that it will have to be totally rebuilt.

 

[Snouts out]

Does your horn button have the rod attached? If it does,I don't get it.You drop the column,remove the light switch spider & pull the rod with button attached,being careful not to bend the rod.After going through that,why not replace it & deal with the light switch ?

 

[Kahuna]

Snouts correct
No need to dismantle the box to remove the rod and button

 

[1938 Coupe]

The four bolts you removed (if they were the ones on the bottom of the housing) are what hold the steering box together. You are very lucky you didn't have more trouble than you appear to have had! Are the parts all still there? That plate retains the bearing and sets the adjustment, so there may be several issues to resolve now. You need to determine if any parts are missing, then if the bearing will go back into place and also if there is any damage to the bearing races. Then you are going to have to recheck the bearing load to assure it is correct. These is adjusted by the number of gaskets between the cover and the housing. Also have to see if any of the existing gaskets are damaged and need to be replaced. It is possible that the steering box is so damaged that it will have to be totally rebuilt.

From what I can see it doesn't appear to have any missing parts but I'm not sure what it should look like. What happened when I drove it a brass tube still attached to the 4 bolt cover came out of the steering box. Nothing else seems to have fallen out, but not sure what the bearing looked like and could it have fallen out with the brass rod still attached to the cover? Gaskets are still there on the cover. If the steering box is damaged does anyone sell rebuilt ones?

 

[JSeery]

If the tube remained the bearing is still in there. If the gaskets look ok I would put the bolts back in and see how it steers. Might have to move the steering around while you tighten it up. The box should have been filled with lube, need to add some gear lube and try it,

 

[Mart]

If the brass tube came out, you will have lost any lube that was in the box. If the tube has been loose for a while, there probably wasn't any lube left anyway.

Mart.

 

[JSeery]

Some views of the box if you don't have any. Note: Some of these are different years, but the insides are the same.

 

[1938 Coupe]

If the tube remained the bearing is still in there. If the gaskets look ok I would put the bolts back in and see how it steers. Might have to move the steering around while you tighten it up. The box should have been filled with lube, need to add some gear lube and try it,

Thanks....I have a feeling there was no lube oil because nothing leaked out when taken apart. Looks like they packed it with grease which seems to be common in the day if the box leaked. I'll give it a try!

 

[1938 Coupe]

Some views of the box if you don't have any. Note: Some of these are different years, but the insides are the same.

Thanks...these pictures help understand what I am looking at while looking for missing parts. I think all the parts stayed in place because they were held in by grease not lube oil....lucky me!

 

[JSeery]

They do pack them with grease and the grease will not properly lube the gears! To test it just add some lube to it (STP will also work). If everything is ok, you can clean the grease out at a future date.

The bottom cover plate (the one with the four bolts) pushes against the lower bearing race. That is what the gasket/shims adjust, the distance the bearing race is pushed up into the housing (bearing load). If the steering was extremely loose the raise moved out a little. I would guess it would not take much to really loosen up the steering! So if the race is still in the housing, most likely it just needs to be pushed back up into place and the cover tighten down. Yep, the grease may have saved you, but it is not a good long term lubricant, needs some type of gear oil in it.

 

[George/Maine]

If you put the same shims back in it may return to the way it was.
What I think you did was loosen the plate so you could tighten the steering wheel.
The bottom of wheel is hitting the steering tube.
Remove steering wheel and return to the original.
You may have bent plate on bottom.

 

[JSeery]

If you put the same shims back in it may return to the way it was.
What I think you did was loosen the plate so you could tighten the steering wheel.
The bottom of wheel is hitting the steering tube.
Remove steering wheel and return to the original.
You may have bent plate on bottom.

What? How would loosing the lower plate make any difference in the length of the steering shaft? The length is controlled by the upper bearing. You could make the shaft shorter by lowering it, but you can't make it longer!

 

[George/Maine]

When you tighten the wheel the bottom is hitting the column.
The shaft is no longer between the 2 bearing. My guess.

 

[35 coupe]

Maybe you lost the key in the keyway at the top of the steering shaft and you were driving it just on a Friction fit and now it is loosing up.

 

[JSeery]

You do understand he was driving it with the lower cover off of the steering box? The bearing were loose inside the steering box, not sure what that has to do with the wheel hitting the column or a missing key, are we reading the same thread?

 

[George/Maine]

I was fighting the binding wheel and had just rebuilt my 47 box.
The worm and shaft I bought was sold a shorter shaft and that's what happen to my car. How I noticed it my knuckles were hitting the shifter.
Had to grind the plastic on the wheel. Just mark and look for rubbing.
Could have bent plate now.

 

[George/Maine]

Now driving with no plate now that one I didn't see coming. Must read more. LOL

 

[JSeery]

Now driving with no plate now that one I didn't see coming. Must read more. LOL

LOL, yep it is a little bit of a different problem! I would have thought that the race and bearing would have fallen out, but apparently because it was packed with grease it stayed together. Don't get much luckier than that.