This weekend Mike came up and we loaded all the parts that required specialty tooling to disassemble in the truck and headed to my friend and technical advisor Walt's place.
We took apart the steering column and sector that was difficult to come apart even with the special tools. Inside we discovered there was no oil whatsoever. These were notorious for leaking around the arm and out the hole in the bottom where the horn and headlight wires exit. As you can imagine the bearings were trash but the gears were useable. I ordered new seals and will machine the steering box to accept more modern needle bearings and a modern seal and we will have no more leaks. The steering tube needed new threads cut to hold the wheel on so we did that, but the spark and gas levers were rusted stuck so they will need some soaking to loosen them.
Next we disassembled the transmission, same story no oil, bearings fell apart, shafts were marginal but the gears are totally useable. So I ordered all new bearings and gaskets and shafts that have a groove for an o-ring seal so the oil will stay in place. The shifter had worn the ball off the end of it so I will build it back to standard size and re-grind the ball end. Hope to have the parts by the end of the week and will document the re-assembly.
Steering Column
Steering Sector
Transmission
Transmission Shifter
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