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Worm gear replacement 1948 Plymouth


Thomba48

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Actually this time it is not about my car, but the one I previously owned. The current owner needs to replace the worm gears from what he can tell. I did some basic research and it certainly does not look that they are simply lying around on the streets :-). Or in other words - I did not find any sofar.

 

Any idea who sells them, besides the occassional NOS stuff finding its way to ebay.

 

Alternatively, but this would only be the second best solution as he wants to remain stock as much as possible:

 Would it make sense for him to exchange the steering gear completely with one coming from a more newish car. Which one would that be? Where can the required adapter be found?

Thanks/ Thom

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Edited by Thomba48
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Thomba........I've seen the roller/pitman shaft listed on ebay but not the worm........as far as I know the worm was listed as an assembly that included the complete steering tube, ie, the steering shaft from where the worm is pressed onto the shaft up to the steering wheel spline.........about 3 foot or so long..........the roller assembly includes the actual pitman shaft and should be available tho' as you are in Germany you will have to import it from the USA.......at least unlike the situation here in Oz where you would have to try and find a RHD version which is almost impossible............as for a substitute, I have used an Oz only GM Holden steering box as a replacement in a couple of mopars years ago.............a 1934 Dr Dodge 7 passenger Sedan and a 1940 Dodge Coupe........each required a different Holden steering box but the install was basically the same..............the original steering column was cut just above the area where the outer column tube was clamped to the original steering box and a sealed bearing pressed into the outer tube with from memory about 1-2" of inner shaft extending past this bearing..........a fibre jointing connection was used to join the shaft to the new Holden steering box which was bolted to a steel plate which was then drilled to accept the mounting bolts from the original chassis............in both cases the splines on the steering box matched those on the original Dodge pitman arms which allowed everything to bolt up..............both these exercises were done by me over 40 years ago and as far as I know the cars are still on the road...........I did not take any pictures as back then I did not think what I did was anything special..................lol.................obviously Australian GM Holden steering boxes are not going to be easily found in Germany..........for that matter 1968-70 and 1971 - 81 Holden steering boxes are getting hard to find here now.......lol..........SO........my suggestions would be try Volvo, Mercedes and BMW vehicles that use a normal steering box ie, not a rack & pinion as most normal style steering boxes certainly from the mid 1960's onwards use a steering box that is separate from the steering column and which uses either a fibre or "rag" joint to connect the column to steering box and these steering boxes will generally use a 3 bolt arrangement to attach the steering box to the chassis.............its a fairly common style of mounting that has been in use since the 1930's ................anyway I dunno if any of this helps.........because you are still LHD my 1st suggestion would be to chase up a roller assembly, plus if the worm is servicable  then new upper and lower bearings on each side of the worm, new pitman shaft bushes or even get new ones made using an "oilite" bush and if possible get the machine shop to cut some diagonal grooves inside the bushes which will allow increased oil flow around the bush/pitman shaft...........also use a neoprene seal as the old style leather seals are not worth a pinch of ****..................lol..............anyway trust this may help............Andy Douglas                

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