Taylormade

Lying in a hospital bed after having knee replacement surgery. Everything seems to have gone fairly well. Some pain, but not as bad as I was expecting. They say I should be home Thursday. I found a terrific machine shop, one those places full of mills, lathes and other machinery run by two guys with tons of experience who love old cars. After explaining my problem with my steering column, the first question was, “got it with you?” I showed it to them and said it was from a 32 Dodge Brothers. That was all I needed to say. Their eyes lit up, told me it would take a couple of days, and then proceeded to show me the 29 Ford pickup, 36 Ford pickup and the 55 VW convertible in the back room. They are going to turn the threads on a lathe and use a tap on the interior threads of the steering box. Hopefully, problem solved.

The Ken-Tool would probably work, but it’s too small - the diameter of my unit is two inches at least. You may be right, Gunsmoke, but good machine shops are hard to find around here. McMaster-Carr has a correct sized thread chaser die for around 300 bucks.

I’ve got one around somewhere - you know that story. But I can lay a common bolt in the threads and it matches perfectly, so it’s a common size.

Sounds like a plan Spinneyhill. Once I figure out the pitch I’ll get the correct file. They seem to sell files for assorted pitches, but they all show different sizes. Since I can do this sitting down, it may be a good recovery project.

I knew things were going to good to be true. My clean and paint steering box project just turned into a major problem. I noticed, when I took the box apart, the outer steering column was very hard to unscrew. I also noticed the dreaded marks of a pipe wrench that had been uses in the distant past to remove or replace said column. Today I started cleaning the column and discovered why it was so hard to get out - and why it probably will never go back in again. The threads are absolutely destroyed. I doubt if running a tap - provided I could afford or find one that large - would do much to help. There are whole chunks missing. Plus, check out the wrench marks on the threads - somebody went at this thing with abandon. Anybody got a spare steering column for a 32 Dodge Brothers out there? Or could a machine shop weld this up and re-thread it? It looks like the threads in the box itself are okay, which is a relief and a surprise.

Thanks. I’m finally cleared for knee replacement surgery next Tuesday, but my wife has promised to haul in items from the garage so I can work on them at a table in the living room. Since almost all parts are restored and painted, I plan to assemble the head and cowl lights with new wiring, put the taillight back together and finish putting the dash and gauges together. Hopefully, I’ll be walking again when I’m finished with all that.

Checking things out in the steering box and I think it looks okay. The bearings and races seem to be fine. The race up inside the housing looks to be fine - I don't know how I'd ever get it out of there if i had to replace it! I'm now pretty sure the worm gear did not move on the shaft. The key is integral to the worm and it looks like the gear is right up to where the keyway starts to rise up. The steering shaft does not come out of the bottom of the worm - it falls maybe a quarter of an inch short. If anyone has a disassembled unit that shows the position of the worm gear on the shaft I'd sure like to see a photo or some measurements. A little paint and I'll put it back together.

Looking at some other posts on the Gemmer, I'm now not sure i did move the worm gear on the shaft after all. I guess all I can do it do a reassembly after everything is cleaned up and see if the top of the steering shaft lines up with the outer steering column. I can probably do it with out replacing the top bearing and race to make it easier.

I finally got up the nerve to tackle the last mechanical part that needs restoring - the ever popular Gemmer steering box. It came apart fairly easily - the twp parts were really stuck together after eighty years, but I got them apart with the use of a makeshift puller I made up from a piece of hardwood and a couple of bolts. All that being said, I know next to nothing about these units so any help would be appreciated. The parts cleaned up pretty well thanks to my local auto repair shop graciously allowing me to use their hot solvent washer (one of the perks of living in a small town.) After a bit of wire brush work, the pieces cleaned up very well. The other half was still soaking in some solvent to get the last of the thick grease inside when I took these photos. To my eye, the worm gear looked pretty good. But, as I said, I'm certainly no expert. What do you guys think? As you may have noticed, the worm gear slipped down the steering shaft during removal. At the moment, I can't get it back up to where it belongs. I'm assuming it should be even with the keyway at both ends. I don't want to beat on it. Will I have to find someone with an hydraulic press to get it back into position? This is my biggest worry. There is obvious wear to the pinion gear (not sure of the correct term) where it meshes with the worm gear. I don't know what is acceptable in these cases, but there is certainly some damage. I don't plan to drive the car to California twice a year, so maybe this isn't as bad as I thought, but it was disappointing to see. I'll post some pictures of the bearings once I get them cleaned up. From what I understand, they are no longer available, so I hope they are still okay. This was the messiest, greasiest job on the entire car, by far.

Remove the tube. If you leave the rusty, clogged up one in the block, you will not get proper cooling in the rear of the engine. They are a real pain to get out. Don’t be surprised if it tears in half when you’re pulling it out. The tube in my 48 Plymouth came out in four pieces. I spent two days of frustration digging in there, pulling out pieces and trying to get the hook on what was left. They used to sell copper replacements which don’t rust like the steel ones, but it’s been a few years since I underwent this particular torture. I used a slide hammer on my hook, which helped, but it also tore the tube to pieces when I got a bit overenthusiastic. Have fun!

Boy, totally different than the Lovejoys on my 32 Dodge Brothers. I have a step by step in my thread, but it won’t help with your shocks.

I wonder if the guys that built your two cars were still working in December 1931 when my car was put together - the first week of DL production. Were your cars built in Detroit?

I'm taking apart the steering box on my 1932 Dodge Brothers DL. I have the housing and pinion shaft removed and there is plenty of lubrication inside and everything appears to be okay - although I won't know until I get things cleaned off. My question is about putting it back together once it's cleaned and painted. Do I have to mark the positions of the shafts (pinion shaft and steering shaft)? Or will it pretty much fall into place when I start to reassemble things? I'm at the point where I can identify the rotation of each shaft, but don't want to go any further until I can make sure this is necessary (or not). thanks for any advice and guidance. I'll post some pictures when I'm further along in my main thread.

Thanks for asking, Ian. The day before I was to have the surgery, the hospital called and said they wouldn’t do the operation due to irregularities in my EKG - which I was required to have in advance. This has resulted in over a month of tests which ended up concluding my heart was okay considering my age. Now the surgery is scheduled for October first. It’s been a depressing and wasted summer, with little work being accomplished.

I’d sat 32 DL based on my fenders.