Help Needed on Steering Box Reassembly!! Vintage Dumper - Liner Roughrider

[Delalio]

Hi all,


TLDR: How the hell do you reassemble the steering box and keep all the bbs in place when pressing the top and bottom bushing in place? I've tried multiple ways, all have failed!!

So as some of you know, I am the proud owner of a Liner RoughRider, with PH1 engine.
I bought it from a farmer who was using it regularly, but apparently did no maintenance on it in decades.

Long and short of it is that the steering box bearings were totally disintergrated. The steering wheel would raise/lower about 3in (8cm) before actioning the wheels.







I have completely dismantled it, and removed it from the dumper, gave it a full clean out, (it was full of gunk and smashed balls, and lots of worn metal!) and am in the process of rebuilding it.

If anyone has rebuilt a steering box from any dumper like this, I'm keen to understand how you got it all back together without dropping the balls all over the place, every time you try pressing it all back together.

Many thanks in advance! Looking forward to getting this running again!

Del

[Billy26F5]

Not at all familiar with dumpers but the steering box is of the same style as that used on Fordson Major's (Burman F type). It's a recirculatory ball type, and free play is adjusted by shims in the steering column and side cover. To assemble the loose ball bearings use thick grease, and don't oil it up until about to fit the side cover, when it will need filling up, levelling off in the filler plug once sealed.
Sandy

[Delalio]

So that’s it, just thick grease?

The components seem to be:

Top bearing
Balls
Worm gear
Balls
Bottom bearing

The only thing holding the balls in place is the whole assembly being tightened / compressed together length wise.

I’m guessing the grease I’d attempted using was way too thin. It was just cheap general purpose grease.

Is there an optimal order, or knack to doing it, or just pack it with the thick gooey grease and holding it steady?

I’m thinking even if I can get all the balls to hold steady, how do I then tighten it together to lock in place? Again, just with a steady hand?

I’ve probably attempted this about 25 times and every time has resulted in a hunt across the workshop floor for the ~20 balls I just dropped!

It’ll be very satisfying having this all built again.

Did you get any photos of the one you rebuilt? I’d be very interested to see them.

Thanks again for your help.

D

[Billy26F5]

Just thick clean grease. Haven't actually done one myself but many folk have done theirs like this, which was also how Ford instructed dealers to do it back in the day. Put it together, and see if there's play or preload. Should be preload with no shims, add shims till there's neither preload nor play.
Sandy