I came over from the '47-'55 discussion forum to ask a question for a friend of mine. He has a 57 1/2 ton and is having problems getting the steering column out. It's an automatic and he has all the brackets disconnected. The floor plate.column support,steering wheel and turn signals have been removed also. He can't get the column out of the steering box. Thanks for any help.
yes it is me how can you tell. oh thats right i'm the only tech here.sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes it is not. it depends on the day. so if you call in and it takes forever to get me now you know why.
Thanks for the info, and a big thank you to Joe for posting for me. Now I want to ask the next question on my own. How do I rebuild the steering box on this beast? Can I heat the box up and then pull the "tube" out of the box leaving the steering shaft in place? Or does the steering shaft come out the bottom of the box without removing the tube? I want to have the tube chromed but if I can not remove it then what? Thanks for your time. scholman
Shaft comes out the bottom. Even when completely disassembled I did not see any way to remove the tube from the box. The Master Parts Book for GMC does show the Steering Column Jacket (the "tube") as a separate part from the Steering Gear Housing (the "box"), but the GMC Shop Manual makes no mention of separating the two parts that I can find. I'd recommend having a shop manual before attempting to re-assemble the steering box. The set up is fairly involved. I just finished rebuilding a box I bought on eBay for $10. As soon as I can find a spare day I'm replacing the really sloppy one in my 57 GMC.
I was wondering about the tube also. When I bought my truck the gentelman gave me a pile of parts and in the pile is a chrome tube for the steering shaft. It looks exactly like the original except no holes for the turn signal wires to come out. it looks like its just pressed in....I have'nt decided to try and remove it yet... The truck came with a tilt wheel from a pontiac mounted to the original steering box...weird.. Ed
remove steering wheel and dis connect dash mounting bracket. remove left hand floor pan and steering column grommet. disconnect horn wire and remove the signal switch bowl. remove fender skirt bolts and remove skirt. take the pit man arm off. remove steering gear to frame mounting bolts. move gear back to clear radiator grille side baffle assembly. it will then be possible to drop the gear down through the fender skirt opening pulling the steering column through the opening in the floor. that is how to remove the thing. and this is how to disassemble it. lossen the lock nut on the end of the sector shaft; then turn the lash adjuster a few turn counterclockwise. this will remove the load from the worm bearings caused by the close meshing of the rack and sector teeth. loosen the lock nut on the worm bearing thrust screw and turn the thrust screw counterclockwise a few turns. place a pan under the assembly to catch the lubricant and remove the bolts attaching the side cover to the housing. pull the side cover with the sector and shaft from the housing. NOTE: if the sector does not clear the opening in the housing easily, turn the worm shaft by hand until the sector will pass through the opening in the housing. place the steering housing in a bench vise and remove the housing end cover and lower the worm bearing. NOTE:do not clamp the housing too tightly in vise as too much pressure will damage the housing. draw the worm shaft and nut assembly from the housing. lay this assembly flat on the bench so that the ball nut will not thread down to either end. damage will be done to the ends of the ball guides if the nut is allowed to rotate until stopped at the end of the worm. remove the lock nut from the lash adjuster and unscrew the lash adjuster from the side cover. slide the lash adjuster out of slot in the end of the sector shaft. dissembly of ball bearing nut remove the screws and clamp retaining the ball guides in the nut. draw the guides out of the nut. turn the nut upside down and rotate the worm shaft back and forth until all the balls have dropped out of the nut into a clean pan. with the balls removed thenut can be pulled end wise off the shaft. that is how to take apart the steering box so you can rebuild it. also note that no where does it say that the mast jacket comes offf of the box nor does it show a picture of that. it is all one piece! and everything will come out around it.
Tech18, I want to thank you for all the info. If I were to have typed all of that info into a post it would have taken me all night to finish. I will get right on it. And again thank you very much. Scholman
The mast tube is reg.steel and the steering box is cast. That tube has to be press fitted..doesn't it? Ed
I have a stearing coloumn out of a 56 that is no good and beat to heck, If I get a chance I will try and remove it by trying to heat it up and see if it will come out. I do agree the mast is steel and the box is cast and has to be pressed into place! Will let you know if I get the chance to try and remove it!
Thanks for the effort. I hope it comes out easy! I don't want you do too much just to see if the tube will come out. I was going to take the box apart and with the steering shaft removed see if I could hit the end of the tube from the bottom side. Thanks Again scholman
