1966 Steering Box Failure Analysis
I'm looking for some help to determine root cause of failure on my steering box. As background, in June of 2022 I returned my 1966 small block roadster to the road following 6 years of a body-off restoration. It's been a long labor of love but was a great feeling to get it back on the road. In the restoration, the steering box was rebuilt using a Paragon rebuild kit. All wear items including bushings, ball joints, steering coupling were replaced. Since then I've been completing some small items and sorting out some issues that have cropped up without too much drama and have driven the car just over 3000 miles.
A few weeks back I took the wife out for a ride and noticed a clunking noise during a slow speed turn while backing out of our garage. During our ride thru the countryside I noticed a significant increase in the looseness of the steering. There was a solid 1/8 turn of the steering wheel before you felt any steering response. We got home without incident. A few days later I had my buddy who rebuilt the steering box for me come over to check out the steering. While backing out of the garage the steering became VERY hard to turn. We were fortunate to be able to get it back into the garage.
I removed the steering box and quickly saw what had happened. The ball guides had "popped" open. It's apparent that something had blocked the path of the ball bearings and the hard steering that I felt was probably enough to pop open the ball guides.
IMG_5186.jpg
On further disassembly you can clearly see that the obstruction where one of the tabs on one of the ball guides is bent over and there is a clear sign that a ball bearing had been jammed into the outer side of the ball guide, clearly blocking the path of the ball bearings through the guide. One of the other guides had a tab broken off. I found the remnant of the tab in the grease during disassembly.
IMG_5199.jpgIMG_5209.jpg
The worm shaft and all other parts are in good shape. No signs of palling damage in any of the ball bearing paths. Bushings and seals are in great shape. All else looks good. My plan is to reassemble using a new Borgeson worm rebuild kit that includes new guides, guide clamp, clamp screws and ball bearings.
I have a pretty good idea of what happened but I'm not clear on why it happened. I'd appreciate any suggestions on a likely root cause of failure. Also it would be good to hear if anyone has had a similar issue and what you found as the cause. Just trying to make sure I'm not missing something that needs to be addressed before reassembly.
Thanks in advance for the help.
A few weeks back I took the wife out for a ride and noticed a clunking noise during a slow speed turn while backing out of our garage. During our ride thru the countryside I noticed a significant increase in the looseness of the steering. There was a solid 1/8 turn of the steering wheel before you felt any steering response. We got home without incident. A few days later I had my buddy who rebuilt the steering box for me come over to check out the steering. While backing out of the garage the steering became VERY hard to turn. We were fortunate to be able to get it back into the garage.
I removed the steering box and quickly saw what had happened. The ball guides had "popped" open. It's apparent that something had blocked the path of the ball bearings and the hard steering that I felt was probably enough to pop open the ball guides.
IMG_5186.jpg
On further disassembly you can clearly see that the obstruction where one of the tabs on one of the ball guides is bent over and there is a clear sign that a ball bearing had been jammed into the outer side of the ball guide, clearly blocking the path of the ball bearings through the guide. One of the other guides had a tab broken off. I found the remnant of the tab in the grease during disassembly.
IMG_5199.jpgIMG_5209.jpg
The worm shaft and all other parts are in good shape. No signs of palling damage in any of the ball bearing paths. Bushings and seals are in great shape. All else looks good. My plan is to reassemble using a new Borgeson worm rebuild kit that includes new guides, guide clamp, clamp screws and ball bearings.
I have a pretty good idea of what happened but I'm not clear on why it happened. I'd appreciate any suggestions on a likely root cause of failure. Also it would be good to hear if anyone has had a similar issue and what you found as the cause. Just trying to make sure I'm not missing something that needs to be addressed before reassembly.
Thanks in advance for the help.
Comment