Steeringbox

[Erich]

I was peering at my steering box today and noticed an empty screw hole. On the column end of the box O/S is a screw which I believe to be a set screw(hex head) of some sort. On the opposite side(N/S) there is threaded hole which presumably should be for another set screw, but none is fitted. The Woodrow book only shows one screw on the O/S, but the digram is for the later steering box. Am I missing something or do I need another screw?

Thank you for the help.

Erich in Mukilteo

[Howard Wright]

Hi Erich

From your description it sounds like this is the clamping bolt that locks the column into the box. The column should twist to screw in or out of the box altering the pre load on the worm gear.  From memory it’s a 1/4 BSF bolt that screws into the threaded portion of the hole.

Cheers

Howard

[Dave Mann]

  Steering Box.jpg (Size: 57.86 KB / Downloads: 195) Are you referring to items 7 and 8? If so Item 8 is a 1/4" BSF setscrew with a plain end to engage the slots in the column outer tube items 13 or 15 to stop it turning after setting the worm end float item 12 whilst 7, a 1/4" BSF bolt and it's nut 6 do the same, it's called belt and braces.

[John Cornforth]

Hi

I have several early pattern steering boxes where there are two tapped holes for item 8, spaced about half an inch apart. Only one is used. I had always assumed this was some sort of vernier arrangement, so that the column could effectively be turned by half a slot and then reclamped. This would allow finer adjustment, after which 6 and 7 can be tightened to take the strain off item 8.

[Erich]

Hi All,

It is in fact item 8 in Dave's diagram. But oddly, there is a second tapped hole on the opposite side. In my case, the screw is on the OS and the tapped hole on the NS has nothing in it. Should I put a second screw in the NS hole or just use the one on the OS?

Erich in Mukilteo

[Tony Press]

As noted, setscrew 8 is to lock the column 15 but a single fixing only gives a quite coarse adjustment of one notch so a second screw at half spacing would be an improvement.

If you are happy with the worm position adjustment, with no up and down movement, then do nothing with the second hole.