BJ7 Steering Gear and Idler Rock shaft

[RestoreThemAll]

I'm working on evaluating the steering idler and gear box. Following the advice from older BCF posts I disassembled both units. The inside of the box was coated with rust and old gear oil. No surprise, though the rust didn't make me happy.

The races look good, as do the bearings. The column cam and peg seem to be in good condition. I didn't expect the peg to be seated in a roller pin bearing. The pins look fine also. I removed and cleaned all of the above. I took pics of all. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'll reinstall those parts given no damage seems to be present.

Rocker shaft pitting is my first question. Note that the pic is taken through a maginfier. Can the shaft be cleaned up? How much metal can be taken away? Maybe a better question is what is the INSIDE Diameter of the new bushings before they are reamed to fit? Is the fix to clean it up manually, or take it to a machine shop? If I clean up the shaft myself would I just use emery cloth?

My second question is about the very deep pitting in the inside wall of the gear box. There is plenty of metal there but the one pit is real deep. Should I be concerned?

The last question is about the idler. It fits tight with no play at all. Feels fairly smooth. That said there is some scoring on the shaft and the bushings. Should I be concerned?

 

[steveg]

My 2 cents: if the shaft fits in the bore with barely any sideways play, I'd reassemble it. Everything looks pretty darn good. I wouldn't worry about the large pit in the non-bearing part of the casting.

Mine was similar but a little sloppy, so I installed new bushings and honed them to size using a new brake hone. That was 5-7 years ago - no leakage.

The modern seals are thin, so you can install two of them stacked.

You might want to look up the previous threads re Penrite Steering Lube and John Deere Cornhead Grease.

 

[RestoreThemAll]

My main concern is with the rocker shaft. Thanks for your suggestion Steve. The shaft seems tight but that pitting concerns me some. A shaft clean up and new bushing in the gear box would improve things. I'm also keeping in mind that taking metal away may not allow the seal to come in contact enough to contain gear lube. Maybe I'm worrying to much?

I don't understand why there isn't a 2nd bush near the top of the shaft. What holds the top of the shaft true? I read an old post last night several hours after bed time so I don't recall who did it but someone had a machinist install a bush at the top of the shaft. Compare my shaft pic to the below pic where it seems there should be a bushing.

 

[steveg]

My main concern is with the rocker shaft. Thanks for your suggestion Steve. The shaft seems tight but that pitting concerns me some. A shaft clean up and new bushing in the gear box would improve things. I'm also keeping in mind that taking metal away may not allow the seal to come in contact enough to contain gear lube. Maybe I'm worrying to much?

I don't understand why there isn't a 2nd bush near the top of the shaft. What holds the top of the shaft true? I read an old post last night several hours after bed time so I don't recall who did it but someone had a machinist install a bush at the top of the shaft. Compare my shaft pic to the below pic where it seems there should be a bushing.View attachment 36538

Dale, with all respect, you may be overthinking this. If one would go to all the expense and trouble of modifying the steering box, why not install a new Denis Welch unit? There's also a rack-and-pinion kit out there. I put a new bushing in mine around 2005 and it doesn't leak and the steering play is minimal by Healey standards.

As amateurs, our concepts of how these things should be done won't hold a candle to the decades of experience and development that went into these systems. If there isn't an upper bushing in this steering it's because experts determined it wasn't necessary to add the expense of it to the car. Maybe the bore shown in the photo, in combination with the steering lube, suffices as a bushing for the upper part.

Our pampered collector cars typically are driven low mileages under mild conditions, so items like pitting that might be a concern in a hard-used vehicle may not be important enough to junk the part. Maybe some water got in your box 30 years ago and caused rust-pitting.

Side note: you can get good used parts from BCS or Healey Surgeons. [/ramble]

 

[RestoreThemAll]

OK. Clean up the shaft with emery cloth, install a new bush and make sure there's no slop. Got it. Thanks Steve.

Yes I do tend to overthink things a bit. I don't think that I'm smarter than the engineers (my little brother is an engineer :rolleye. Though I would do things differently sometimes.