Anybody rebuild thier steering box?? How hard is it to do and could someone with reasonable mechanical knowledge do it? Any special tools required?

I'm doing the control valve also. I remember hearing somewhere that there are different lb valves for increased steering response? Is there some way I can do this while rebuilding mine or do I have to buy a different valve? Any info is greatly appreciated!!

 

I installed a new steering control valve and rebuilt the steering box with all new bearings and seals and it didn't make that much difference. I tore the box out again and this time replaced the bushings for the pitman arm. The originals had about .006 clearance. The new ones were around .001. This made all the difference . So to just rebuild with new bearings I feel is a waste. Do it right with new bushings or have a machine shop do the bushings for you.

 

Norval
I have the bushing issue in more than one box I have. Your .006". Was that measured difference between the shaft and the bushing or was it shaft rock in the bushing?
Thanks
bob

 

I don't know if it makes a big difference, but my car has only about 60,000 miles on it and everything else seemed to be in pretty decent shape. The box is just the last piece and I figured I would do that also. Car used to wander a bit and I'm hoping with everything else new it would be fixed. I hate to put it all back together and find out I should have done the box too. Where would you get the pitman arm bushings and is this something I could do myself??

 

I first could definitely feel the play in the pitman shaft. I was lying under the car, grabbed the pitman arm and could wiggle the shaft. I diassembled the box, polished the pitman shaft, micked it and the inside of the bushings and found .006 clearance. This is not acceptable so I installed new bushings , honed to a tight .001 fit and reassembled the box. My box is like new and I don't notice a steering difference between my Bonneville, dodge ram or corvette. Just installing bearings I feel is a waste. Read Bigblock from hell to get the lowdown on rebuilding steering boxes. If you need the address I will post it tomorrow.
Heading out now on Strider my arabian friend.

 

norvalwilhelm,

Thanks for all your info..........at least I know now what to look for in doing this. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get deeper into this and I'll check out the BBFH articles for more info.

 

As far as I know, most control valves today come with a 40# spring. Vette Brakes will sell you a rebuilt valve with a 55# spring or will rebuild your valve with the higher load spring if you contact them. The valve with the higher load valve should have more road feel. A rebuilt valve has a 5 year warranty from VB. A new valve (with a 40# spring) has only a 1 year warranty.

You can purchase two new bushings for your gear from a GM dealer (#266316) but I am not sure what clearance you will end up with. (Almost for sure not the 0.001 that Norval ended up with by specifically honing his bushings to match his pitman shaft.) But if you cannot detect any side to side motion of your shaft to gear, maybe you don't need new bushings. The rest of the rebuild is covered fairly extensively in the Chevrolet Overhaul Manual for the C2 and C3.

I have several papers on the manual gear over at Terry Rudy's sight. Go to http://www.corvettefaq.com and look under Steering.

Steering Gear Adjustment (In Car)
Steering Gear Adjust Pic #1 & #2
Steering Gear Pitman Shaft Seal Replace
Steering Gear Service Parts (Where to purchase gear components and parts)

I see that I have scanned the manual gear rebuild from the Chevrolet Overhaul Manual but I never had it posted at Corvettefaq.com. It is six separate pages so I could send them to you as .jpg or as word.doc.

Jim Shea

 

I just had Terry Rudy post the manual gear rebuild scans from a Chevrolet Overhaul Manual.

One thing to be aware of, there were two different manual gears that Saginaw provided to Chevrolet back in the 60s and 70s. The Corvette manual gears loaded the worm and rack from the input shaft side. The other type manual gear loaded from the opposite end.

The manual addresses both type gears. I tried to delete instructions that only applied to the "other" gear. But the scan is just a bit sloppy.

 

Jim,

Thank you for all of the info, I do appreciate it. That was exactly what I was looking for in the control valve. I'd like to do this and do it once, and your information makes things much easier. I also didn't realize I have some of this information myself, as I have and original Chevrolet Overhaul Manual, as well as a Corvette specfic manual that covers from 66 to 76. I'm trying to rebuild all the mechanicals on my car at once, which can be taxing when you're working with so many pieces at a time. I will also keep that http://www.corvettefaq website on my list. Thank you again for the info and I will be in touch if I run into additional problems.

 

One more tip!!! Several people that have tried to rebuild the control valve had difficulty because the instructions that come with the rebuild kit are not very complete. I would recommend that you go to http://www.corvettefaq.com and check out Control Valve Sliding Seals Pic #3. I made two sketches on the original engineering drawing of the control valve to help you reinstall the sliding seals.

 

Wait untill winter, take it off send it to BAIRS Corvette for complete rebuild ........ will come back like new they do quality work & are good people.................... :)