TR2/3/3A steering box for TR3A

[newguy]

I am hoping some one here might have a spare steering box which they would be willing to sell. Preferably rebuilt but will rebuild myself if necessary.

 

[Twosheds]

Split column or single-piece column? I have a single-piece column for sale.

 

[newguy]

My 3A does not have the telescoping wheel. I believe it is the one piece. Thanks

 

[TR3driver]

Two-piece column and "adjustable" steering wheel are two different topics. The "adjustable" wheel was an option on both early and late cars; but there was a change point for the "split" column (which was apparently instituted to make it easier to assemble the cars at the factory).

Moss gives the change point as approximately TS42000, but TS39781LO had the split column (with a fixed steering wheel).

In other words, there are 4 distinct steering columns:
1) Early single piece column with fixed steering wheel
2) Early single piece column with adjustable wheel
3) Later split column with fixed steering wheel
4) Later split column with adjustable wheel.

(Well, actually 8 variations, since all four of those come in both LHS and RHS versions

)

The early solid column should fit later cars I believe (with the matching steering wheel of course); you can just leave off the extra brackets. But you would have to add brackets to an earlier car to convert to a later column.

Adding the brackets might be no worse than drilling holes and adding bolts, but I've not looked into it in detail. I believe the factory added captive nuts to the firewall, and welded a bracket (actually two brackets, one each side) to the frame.

 

[newguy]

TR3 Driver: Great info ! As you can see, I am new to this forum and to rebuilding Triumphs. My Comm. number is in the 76000 range so it would appear that I probably have the two piece column without adj. wheel. Please correct me if you think i'm wrong. The car only has 30K actual original miles so I am trying to do everything per the original specs.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

If your box is bad, now might be a good time to think about putting rack & pinion steering. You can always change back but I doubt you would.

Marv

 

[PatGalvin]

As a reference point, my 59 TR3A is TS35XXX and it is a split column. I think the car is actually a late 1958 but I haven't purchased a birth cert yet for this vehicle.

Pat

 

[newguy]

O.K. so I have determined that I have a two piece steering shaft. The question is, since I want to stay with the proper steering box, can I buy just a rebuilt steering box or do I need to get the shaft also? (a joke)

 

[Tr3aguy]

https://www.macysgarage.com/myweb6/steering_box.htm

Check the site....I know these guys do rebuilds, but have not sent mine yet......

 

[TR3driver]

Oh you'll get the shaft, no doubt!
:laugh:

The upper part of the column is pretty easy to do yourself, if you are so inclined. The box & lower part are a little harder, but still pretty do-able if you don't have to replace the worm. The main special tools you'll need are a Pitman arm puller, and a reamer the right size (although when I did mine, the new bushing proved to be exactly the right size without reaming ... surprised me.) It only takes a little creativity with some threaded rod, flat washers and sockets to substitute for the press that Macy shows.

Since parts are so hard to come by, I don't know of anyone selling rebuilt boxes outright. They do show up used occasionally, but not very often (sorry, I want to hang on to the one from my wrecked TR3A against future need). So it comes down to rebuilding your own, having someone rebuild it for you (I believe TRF will also do the job, no idea how they compare to Macy), or as Marv suggests, converting to R&P.

But the R&P conversion means you lose the self-cancelling function of the original turn signal switch (no stator tube to hold the control head stationary), so I'm not interested. When properly rebuilt, the original cam & peg actually works quite well anyway, IMO.

 

[alfa33047]

I tried to order a rack and pinion steering set up for a customers TR-3. Moss Motors told me that they had some problems and would not sell any right now. Maybe in a couple of months. I called British Parts Northwest and was told that they do not sell the German rack and pinion kit anymore. My customer does not want to rebuild his old stock steering, he wants a rack and pinon set up. Thanks, Bill C., Mesa, Az.

 

[martx-5]

I bought my rack & pinion set-up from British Auto Restorations (in Virginia) a few years back. It's not the same as the German unit, as you can't use the engine driven fan as you can with the unit from Moss. I don't know what he's got these days, but you might want to give him a call. The last known phone number I have for him is 540-989-5121.

 

[HerronScott]

Interesting, just an hour and a half south of me and I hadn't heard of this place.

British Auto Restorations

Scott

 

[TR4nut]

You can buy the German one (Bastuck) if you want to go through the headache of calling them - I don't think its easy to do directly on their website. But if you do it that way, I think the price might even get lower than what BPNW's sold them for.

 

[newguy]

So, now that I know a lot more than before, the question is. Does anybody have a steering box and shaft which would fit a 1960 TR3A comm. number TS76775L with two piece shaft and no adjustable steering wheel?