1930 Buick steering column gears

[michaelod]

While working on the steering column today from my 1930 Buick model 68, I broke a couple of the small potmetal gears at the bottom of the shaft. These were extremely fragile and broke even though I exercised considerable caution in my attempt to remove them. I superglued them together just for the purposes of photography as I know this will not hold. Please see the photos below for shots of the gears. Does anyone have a set of these gears available or a source for them? I checked at Bob's Automobilia and he does not seem to have them. I would be willing to purchase a complete steering column or just the gears. Thanks for your assistance.

Michael O'Docharty

Wake Forest, NC

[jscheib]

Michael,

My suggestion, as you have the glued together pieces, you find a small machine shop and have them make the pieces by machining stoclkaluminium or other metal. They do not have a lot of pressure when operating and they need not be exact duplicates as they are not seen. I have done this for the pot metal levers on the heat exchanger for the carburator on my '32.

The problem is these have an opening to apparently tighten around the shaft, which might be had to duplicate. Perhaps some other mechanism will work, as again the are not seen and you need only something to function better then the original. I'll bet you are not the only one needing these.

John

John

[unimogjohn]

Michael, Bob's has them for $95. Steering Spark & Throttle Gear Set 1916-30 SG-160

[critterpainter]

Bobs is out of stock at the moment. They will have them in stock within a matter of weeks.

[Erndog]

Does anyone sell the mating gears for a 30? (the ones on the column)

[Mark Shaw]

On 8/29/2011 at 12:47 PM, jscheib said:

machining stoclkaluminium or other metal

I suggest you get them made of brass or bronze.  Ordinarily they do not have much pressure on them.  However if the old connecting rods and associated mechanism is worn, aluminum or pot metal may not take the strain.