TR2/3/3A Steering Worm Gear Wear Evaluation

My 58 is a non running car at the beginning stages of restoration. The steering exhibits a noise and vibration best described as an EEEEE EEEE EEE whenever the wheel is turned. With the front wheels clear of the ground same thing. After disconnecting the drop arm the wheel moves very smoothly and quietly from lock to lock, but with a good bit of slop. I pulled the single piece adjustable wheel steering column and proceeded to get into the steering box. Upon removal of the steering shaft and cleaning up the worm there is damage to the worm, but I am not sure of its significance. The peg is quite worn (I'll include images of it in a reply to this post) but smooth. Clearly the peg should be replaced. Obviously my main concern is the worm. Please gaze at this rascal and let me know what you think.

Regards,
Steve Baker

Here's an image of the peg. Its pretty worn, but smooth on both sides. With the damage to the worm I would have expected to see a different wear pattern on the peg.

Worm looks pretty bad; I'd replace it if at all possible. But I used one that looked about like that, and it worked reasonably well. The slop was noticeable even on center (they are designed to be loose away from center) but otherwise it worked.

Absolutely shot. You wouldn’t really consider re-using it with chips flaking off and jamming the gear...and the fact that this is your only means of steering, would you?

CJD said:

Absolutely shot. You wouldn’t really consider re-using it with chips flaking off and jamming the gear...and the fact that this is your only means of steering, would you?

Click to expand...

I agree. Scrap that worm. That EEEEeee sound is the control head on the steering wheel rubbing against the aluminum hub. When you reinstall make sure there is a bit of clearance there.

Ok, thank you all for confirming what I suspected. The control head is missing from the car so the EEEEE sound must be coming from something else. I suppose Macy's garage is the go to for this if I were to send it out. Have any of you replaced one of these? I have a for sure scrap lower section of a split column with a worm on it I could practice on.

I replaced a solid column with a split column in the 1958 project I am working on now. Everything seems fine, but I do not have many miles on the car. The split is like a ½ shorter and there is room in the cockpit for that. 58 and 59 columns and the spilt column used different column braces for the shaft; some I used and others I have on hold and might use if the split fells lose.