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TR2/3/3A tr3 notchy steering in parking lots

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Jim Lee

Jedi Trainee
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I know that my real answer is the rebuild my TR3 steering box but is there anything I can do before I carve out the time to do that job? Cruising around the steering is fine but getting in and out of parking spaces sort of makes me cringe a little (inside usually) when I feel the 'bumps' when turning through a certain part of the turn when moving slowly. If I have to turn it moving not at all or barely I really cringe. I did some work on the box a while ago and am not sure if I made it better or worse. The original issue was that there was a very small leak at the bottom of the box where the wires come out. I hate to admit it but I finally gave up on that leak. I have messed around with the pin on top of the box and regulates the pressure on the thing whose name I can not think of right now.
I would love to put a new fangled TR4 or above steering rack in there but I am ascared of the welding that I understand is involved.

Anyone out there who can dispel my fears on installing a rack an pinion setup? I am definitely not up for one of the $1200 kits. That would be cheating. Other than finding a decent rack and pinion at a junk yard and finding someone who can weld is it not such a nightmare? Talk me into it. I am relatively mechanical. I just switched out a steering rack in a Volvo but that was no feat of mechanical skill...but it was a steering rack.

Thanks very much,
Jim Lee
1959 TR3A
The Black Stallion aka My Friend Flicka
 
All I can say is that when I finally bit the bullet and rebuilt the box on my 3A; my biggest impression was "That wasn't so bad, why didn't I do that years ago!".

Like you, I had fiddled with the adjustment; and I suspect also like you, got it too tight which damaged the worm. But fortunately the damage was not too severe, so I got by without replacing the worm or bearing races.

With the split column, the box can be removed without removing the front apron, and then the only tricky part is finding a Pitman arm puller to fit. The bushing and seal pulled out easily with some threaded rod, flat washers, nuts and a big socket. I installed the new bushing the same way. The book says to ream the bushing to size, but mine was perfect without being reamed (and a suitable reamer shouldn't be more than $20 or so).

I used a cheap dial indicator to set the end float to exactly zero (by measuring the float with the original shim pack, then deleting an equal thickness of shims), but you could probably get close enough with feeler gauges.

The improvement was huge, a real head-slapper.

Oh yeah, I also replaced the idler arm and upgraded the silentblocs with brass/SS ones from BFE. Today I'd probably use the Delrin ones available from TRF instead (but the brass ones were still in good shape, so I moved them to the TR3).

Some people don't mind, but I would really hate losing the self-canceling feature of the original control head. Even the R&P kits that let you keep the control head functional let it spin with the wheel, which just ain't right, IMO. And most of the kits don't address the problem at all.

PS, with the seals working well again, I could also fill the box with Valvoline full synthetic gear oil, which I think also helped reduce steering effort.
 
I too have the untouched 50 year old steering that I plan to address this winter. I plan doing exactly what Randall has described and re-bush all the rubber bits on the steering and suspension. For the time being though I wonder about adding some lube to the box as is, I haven't tried since it is a greasy mess and obviously leaking like a sieve. Although I just thought of this. I infrequently use a grease at work called cotton picker spindle grease (similar to 00 grease) I think it might leak less as that is what we use it for on an old mower that leaks like a sieve. I'm thinking that that and the silent blocks might give me a more enjoyable fall before doing any real work on it. Randall what Pitman puller does work and where would one get the right one, how wide do the jaws need to be?
 
ekamm said:
Randall what Pitman puller does work and where would one get the right one, how wide do the jaws need to be?
Click to expand...
Sorry, I don't know offhand. The stores were closed by the time I got to that point, so what I did was to make some side braces for my 2-arm gear puller, that forced the jaws to stay on the tabs on the arm. It worked, but it's not something I would recommend as good practice.

I had to tighten the forcing screw until I literally thought it would break if I went any farther, and then smack it with a BFH to get it to pop apart.

It doesn't take much of a leak to get really messy, so it might be worth filling it at least once with ordinary gear oil, see what happens. But if that does leak too badly, then the spindle grease seems like a reasonable idea. Several LBC suppliers offer Penrite "semi-fluid" grease for the same purpose, which is another brand of 00 grease.
 
KD 2289 pitman arm puller will work. Ears have to be modified because of narrow gap between box and pitman arm [grinding]. Slip puller on. Tighten as much as you can using a breaker bar. Hit tightening screw head with a large hammer,to shock arm loose off splined shaft.Doing it with steering shaft still in car will work for those extremely lucky people. I have always removed steering shaft.
 
PS remove top plate off steering box before using hammer to shock arm off.
 
Some where either in the states or Canada there is a pitman arm puller that I modified when I took my box apart. Maybe Don Elliot knows where it is. If you can locate it then it's yours to use for the asking. PM Don and ask him about it.

Tinkerman
 
I'm not to that stage yet but a picture of it would be nice. I don't mind modifying one when the time comes.
 
Jim Lee said:
I have messed around with the pin on top of the box and regulates the pressure on the thing whose name I can not think of right now.
Click to expand...

Rocker shaft?
 
John_Malinick said:
Tighten as much as you can using a breaker bar.
Click to expand...
IMO you should also have a way to hold the puller and shaft from turning. Letting the peg & worm take the force is likely to damage the worm even worse than it already is. I actually managed to remove the worm first, to make sure it wasn't an issue.
 
Yes Lee it really makes a big difference if the vehicle has the split column or not. The splits are much easier. No body panels to remove; it just comes out the top. In addition, I would stay with the peg and cam steering. I think you can purchase one from TRF and just swap yours out if you do not what to rebuild. Like Randall said, they are not hard to rebuild, and if you do rebuild, you can pull the worm and shaft out and tackle the rest. Moreover, your box could easily be fine/ok and you have STUCK IDELER ARM. I have seen that many times. When a shop lubes the arm, the grease never gets in or they just miss the fitting. If you only have a leak right at the brass olive, try purchasing a new one with the nut. Just mark the wires and unplug them and stick the new one on. I would like to comment that tr3s turn hard even with new steering at slow speed.
Steve
 
Eric, here is a picture of what I did to make it work. I bought an inexpensive one at an auto supply shop and ground it down until it fit under the drop arm. I popped it with a big hammer before I took the nut off just cranked away with a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar on the puller until I heard a loud pop and off it came.

Cheers, Tinkerman
 

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Twosheds said:
Jim Lee said:
I have messed around with the pin on top of the box and regulates the pressure on the thing whose name I can not think of right now.
Click to expand...

Rocker shaft?
Click to expand...

If you messed around with the top pin adjusting nut and the result is notchy in the center (steering wheel straight), it is too tight. For reference, mark the position of the adjusting pin with a sharpie. Loosen CCW the center pin just a little, relock with the jamb nut and check it. Repeat by unscrewing the pin a couple of degrees each time until the notch goes away.

I agree with Randall that once I replaced the bushings, etc on my 3A, the difference was night and day. And is highly recommended.
 
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