23rd June - Steering box again......

While I try to locate parts/part No.s for some of the steering box parts I took another look at the main cast housing and in particular the outlet shaft seal.

On initial inspection it appeared that it was some form of lip seal pressed into the casting later it was found to be just an O-ring (271013) which can be easily removed and swapped out.

As an aside the 'washer' pressed in above the seal (271014) is NLA. Not that I can see anyone needing one? To remove the washer (and allow a route out/in for the bush below) I pulled out the O-ring the inserted large screwdriver in the O-ring groove and twisted hard. Washer then pops out and leaves enough material to peen over and hold the washer after.

The oil-tite bush was then removed to allow a new one to be tapped into place. There was nothing really wrong with the old one (no play at all) but I had already bought a new genuine one so.... method used was to drive a screwdriver down the side of the bush alongside the vetical split in the bush. The bush would then fold in and can then be removed. The slighty damaged surface was then tidied up with some wet-n-dry.

My problem now is the shaft won't fit through the bush (why do I try and 'fix' something that wasn't 'broken' in the first place?). From comments on the S2 forum the thought is that the bush has to be 'reamed to suit' after install! This does not feature in the 'Green Bible'.  So I may now end up using the scrap steering box housing who's bush is also fine ;)

20th June - Made a start on rebuilding the steering box

Well the box is now in pieces and I can now look at the state of the internals - which initially looked remarkably good for their age (whatever that may be?).

This is a 2A steering assembly when compared to the S3 one I had for spares (none of that one could be used so went in the scrap bin) without a steering lock etc. Internally the issues are pitting on one bearing bearing track (Part No. 271384); more on the inner shaft recip bearing screw end and the recirculating ball bearing assy.

Pics of the damage below.

The bearing track is an off the shelf £7 bit and most of bearings are good. The damaged ones can be replaced with good ones I salvaged out of the S3 box. The issue the pitting on the screw end of the inner shaft and the recirculating ball unit. The inner shaft is ava at £80 but I cannot source recirc unit - or at least I haven't found a part No. or source -yet.

A further alternative would be chemi metal in the pittings and smooth it flat. After all it isn't a highly loaded component......and it worked before?

OK. Not much done but I have to post something - 14 June 2010

It seems an age since my last blog post and to be honest not much has been done to Trigger. Since March I have been working away 5 days a week and the weekends have been mainly taken up with house redec so we can sell and move on.


FUEL SYSTEM
The military fuel changeover valve that was donated by Twizzle has now installed for the injector return - but I now need to remove it again. The cork gasket had dried up and is leaking dieso. That'll teach me for trying to cut corners with the cheap price of the part? Also Minivin donated a spare 'nipple'/hose connector for the top of the fuel selector so when it comes off that can also be fitted.

Despite that the system works without fault.


REAR TUB
This is now bolted on after Minivin donated a bit of time (under duress) after being plied with a helping of Chinese food. The front was plumbed in and the front mounts on the tub drilled to suit (a previous owner had replaced the 'tabs' with new ally due to corrosion).

Last weekend was spent refitting the steel strengtheners down the inside of each tub side. These were held in with s/s screws in pref to ally rivets. Then I spent some time sanding the corroded surface of the tub back and filling the holes.

Pic below after final fill and etch primer and later LWB rim fitted.

On the rear of the tub was the original military power connector, which refused to capitulate to my previous attempts to remove it from the bent piece of ally that it had resided in. After some thought and the application of a 4" chop disk it eventually relented and is now sprayed with primer ready for later re-install. The dented panel around it's original location has also seen the visit of the No.1 LR tool and is a tad flatter than it was.


NEXT JOBS ARE...
Steering column rebuild/overhaul
Look at the front brakes again (bleed/mod)