Adjusting steering box

Hello,

I have been working on adjusting the steering box on my PT81 for what seems to be a year. I have read the adjustment procedures associated with Gemmer boxes from the Ford site since the PT81 uses a Gemmer box.

My first problem was that when I center the steeing wheel in turns CW and CCW, the tires end up turning to the left. According to the instructions, the steering shaft should be lined up with the keyway at 12 oclock when driving straight. Since there is no drag link adjustment I had to select of another tooth on the sector shaft spline. This put the steering wheel 180 degrees rotated CW to drive straight. This puts the sector shaft not in the center of rotation so when I go through the adjustment procedure the steering shaft binds at about 2 oclock CW.

My other question is how, in a production environment, did they make sure the front wheels were straight without a drag link adjustment?

Does anyone know of a service that will rebuild and adjust this Gemmer box? I contacted Brattons and they only do 28-31 Ford.

Regards,

wings515

We can rebuild your steering gear. Either give me a call or PM me for details.

Thank you all for the information provided. After a four hour attack on the steering box this afternoon, I have success! I must have had the box in and out 10 times during this adjustment procedure. I began by using the procedure outlined in the Ford Model A service bulletin to get a starting point since the Model A also used the Gemmer assembly. I had to fabricate a flat blade tool to adjust the bottom eccentric screw. When it was finished, I had less than 1" play at the center of travel of the wheel. I am very happy with this little amount of play. This may be some slop in the upper and lower roller bearings but I will not press my luck to "fix" this. I am surprised how smooth the steering is when it is adjusted correctly.

I called Lares Corporation and they quoted me a price of $309.75 plus S/H for rebuild. This included new seals and bushings. It would

have been extra if there were damage to the sector or worm. To me I just saved over $300. Had I not been able to get the box adjusted, Lares was my only option.

Thanks again for the information and help.

Regards,

wings515

I'm glad to hear it was just an adjustment issue! We mostly see bearing / bushing failure when it comes to rebuilding this era of gear. When we get them in they're usually adjusted as far as they can go. If you have any troubles, or questions in the future please don't hesitate to give me a call.

After replacing the worm shaft and sector shaft I still had a wandering problem.  The play was gone from the wheel but it was a bear to drive.  I inspected the king pins thinking that could be the problem.  They were tight.  A little more inspection showed the steering knuckle was loose on the brake backing plate.  Removing the drum I noticed the brake shoes had "New" on them.  I had not changed the brakes so this must have been the former owner (25 years ago) doing the install. The cotter pins were new so the bottom adjusters were never tightened.  After re-assembly with some Loctite, I found the same problem on the other side.

What a difference.  No wandering and just the right amount of force to turn the wheel.  An expensive solution to an easily corrected problem.

Well at this point I have an NOS sector shaft and a steering worm gear that did not have to be replaced.  Anyone needing one of these for 38/39/40 these are available.

Regards,

wings515