1962 Healey 3000 Mark II Steering Box

[conor62]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to BCF. I have been the proud owner of a MkII BT7 for almost ten years. It was lovingly restored by its former owner who has sadly since passed away, but I got to enjoy (and marvel at) the beautiful results of his second level zero restoration.

With Covid-19 finally doing what my wife couldn't (keep me home from work) I took the covers off, got the car started (first time) and bled the clutch (gearbox was snatching in first and second). I felt that now was the time to fit the replacement Steering Box I purchased from AH Spares in early 2019 and kept putting off. I've had good success (with patience) and am down to the second last step, namely, removing the splined shaft from the steering arm. It wont budge (despite copious amounts of WD40) and I've no earthly how the workshop manual 'special tool' could even fit on the arm - never mind use it without the car being on a hoist.

Any suggestions or tips would be welcome.

Thanks.

Conor (Ireland)​

 

[red57]

Hi Conor,

I'll take a stab at it. My experience is with left hand drive and I'm not sure if right hand drive would work the same in reverse or not.

If you have already disconnected the cross tie rod and the outer side rod, then you should be able to work the box and arm together out through the grille opening and remove the arm on the bench.

If you aren't intending to remove the tie rod & cross rod, remove the three box mounting bolts and the under-dash clamp (with steering wheel off) and you should be able to work the box forward a few inches and rotate the bottom of the box/arm towards the outside of the car a bit. This should allow you to get a small puller like this on the arm and remove. Then you can leave the arm and rods in the car and pull the box out though the grille opening.

Qualifier: I just had to do this myself but my car is stripped of bodywork and therefore all this is very visible/accessible and I can't be sure that some of the bodywork won't present a problem for you.

Pic of mine after removal and pic of the puller I use. This puller is a very cheap generic puller (don't remember where I bought it). I had to grind the tips back to a little over 1 1/2" as shown to get it on but it hooks on the two lugs on the side of the arm and does the job.


Good luck,
Dave

 

[conor62]

Many thanks Dave

that's a lovely clean and spacious area you've got there!

I have made some space for myself as you suggest but lacking the tool you have (car parts shops closed at moment) I think I shall try your suggestion on removing the box c/w lever.

thanks again

Conor

 

[Healey Nut]

Heat , ball joint splitting tool (tie rod end), Birmingham Screwdriver . Job done .

 

[steveg]

This puller (Amazon.uk) appears to be identical to the cheap Harbor Freight pullers available in the US per Dave above. Plenty of room to open it up to the 1.5" from the stock 33mm.

The tie rod separator is a 19mm or 20mm opening. Lots of these inexpensive ones available.

If your bolt heads face outward you can pull the box with the radiator in place. Otherwise out it comes first. I've pulled mine with the arm in place several times.

 

[Randy Forbes]

I took a slightly different approach to removing the steering arm on my 100/6__my mind works that way__as I had no intention of removing the entire steering box to replace the shaft seal. Rather than pull the arm off, I elected to push it off.

I made a wedge out of s piece of steel I had laying around, that I could drive between the body of the box and the arm. Once in position, a few whacks with a heavy hammer and the arm falls free (leave the nut on loosely to prevent it falling completely off).

A couple of steps during fabrication, to shape the wedge as needed to fit the confines of the task.

Some detail pictures while using it on another car (MKIII)

I use a steel tube pilot that slips into the bushing, to insure the seal gets started straight; such small seals are easily deformed.

Not relevant in Conor's application, but there's enough room to place two (2) oil seals below the bushing. The advantages are that the uppermost seal will be acting on an unworn__presumably__portion of the shaft, and what little, if any, oil that gets past it will be halted by the second seal in the original position.

 

[Lin]

Nice thinking, Randy!
Lin

 

[conor62]

Many thanks Guys. that is a really neat tool you've developed there Randy...nice one

I actually disconnected the two steering rod ball joints and was able to remove the whole box c/w steering arm in one piece. Once on the bench i was able to use a two arm extractor to remove the arm and refit on the replacement AH Spares steering box. pity they dont send a set of instructions when they sell you a Steering Box (they charge enough).

what a great first experience on this forum.

thanks all

Conor

 

[steveg]

Conor -
When you install your new box, make sure you orient the Steering Column Sealing Plate (#189) correctly between the pedal box and firewall as it can't be rotated once the column is in place. Ask me how I know.:

 

[conor62]

Hello everyone,​

​

I'm new to BCF. I have been the proud owner of a MkII BT7 for almost ten years. It was lovingly restored by its former owner who has sadly since passed away, but I got to enjoy (and marvel at) the beautiful results of his second level zero restoration.​

​

With Covid-19 finally doing what my wife couldn't (keep me home from work) I took the covers off, got the car started (first time) and bled the clutch (gearbox was snatching in first and second). I felt that now was the time to fit the replacement Steering Box I purchased from AH Spares in early 2019 and kept putting off. I've had good success (with patience) and am down to the second last step, namely, removing the splined shaft from the steering arm. It wont budge (despite copious amounts of WD40) and I've no earthly how the workshop manual 'special tool' could even fit on the arm - never mind use it without the car being on a hoist.​

​

Any suggestions or tips would be welcome.​

​

Thanks.​

​

Conor (Ireland)​

Hi everyone - I replaced the box last summer and the car drives really well and turns beautifully. Thanks for all the great tips.

I am now the proud owner of one surplus (faulty) Austin Healey Steering arm/box and when I opened up the worm gear to examine the issue I found the metal (bullet-like) spigot had a deep score mark which seems to be the source of the lumpy steering movement.

If anyone wants to take the unit with a view to replacing this spigot and get themselves a replacement steering box they can have it FOC. Just needs collecting from my address in Dublin, Ireland.

let me know but allow for some delay as I'm an infrequent visitor to the forum.

regards

Conor