1965 F250’s Rejuvenation

As John says. You can not get the column out of the box without it being pulled apart. The outer "tin" tube can be taken off once the steering wheel is removed but it is only a mounting unit, not part of the steering. Not much point in taking the tube off - just undo the dash mounting bracket and chassis mounting bolts and slide the whole unit out. As John also says you will have to lift the truck up a bit to jiggle it down (or put on a hoist).

As a note take a good look how the horn wire and contacts are routed and mounted. If you want to clean up the whole unit, when you remove the horn wire it is a good idea to tie a bit of string or light wire to it when you pull it out. It makes it so much easier to pull it (or a new wire) through when reassembling. Horn kits are not expensive and old frayed or broken wires are worth replacing.

Lang

Thank you all,

I was going nowhere fast with how I was doing it last time I attempted to remove it. Fingers crossed for a positive progress report tomorrow afternoon.

Urchy87

Well, it’s out. The steering wheel took a bit to get off and then it was a matter of Tetris to get the column and box out. Would be reasonably easy if I had someone to help out. Getting it back in is going to be harder I reckon.

Lang, all of the wiring is external so it will be easy as. I’ll keep it in mind for future vehicles though.

I’m not sure on the box brand and type. JOHN.K you mentioned it might be a Gemmer but I couldn’t find any which looked like this one. I cleaned it up to see what markings I could get but all I could see was CRC3TA-3550-A and an A within a circle. I found an exploded diagram of a Ross 375, this is meant to be in the American F350 which the Aussie assembled F250’s were based off. Mounts have swapped sides to accommodate right hand drive but the rest looks the same. Are these common over here? Struggling to find much about them if that’s what it is. Pics below.

Thanks

The parts book pic is what I call a Gemmer,,,,,roller and hourglass worm.........possibly the reason for the confusion is that Ross bought Gemmer around 1940,and Ross was taken over by TRW about 1960......fast forward to today ,and Ross and Gemmer are owned by ZF......but its even more complicated than that.....various makers like Ford and Dodge actually produced the Gemmer boxes in their own factories.....so even though its recognizably a Gemmer box,it was made by Ford or Dodge and not interchangeable between brands.......Of course vintage Ford nuts have all seen the famous"Two tooth Gemmer " from the Model A...............The old F800 I have in the yard has a gemmer box......as do the two Toyota 6x6s,as do the early Landcruisers.....as did the Ford Blitz.

A bloke up the road has newly bought a small Gemmer rebuild kit from a mob called CHS (?) in Argentina. It arrived as promised and looks the goods. I have to decide how to get the old worm off (integral bearing races are pitted) with the end of the tube appearing to be flared at the time of original manufacture. I was thinking to cut it almost through on two sides then break open with a chisel to reveal the undamaged shaft. (no heat required, no butchering in the press)

With luck, you may only need new needle bearings on the sector shaft.

Jarrod.

Sometimes,simply removing shims under the end cap will tighten up the worm enough to fix play....the worm bearings are barrel rollers ,and very expensive ...hopefully they will be OK if no water has got in.......Anyway,before adjusting the worm bearings,back off the sector shaft,so you dont put excessive load on anything.......this is the big risk of adjusting the box in the truck..........The sector shaft is a single part,and the needle roller shaft is rivetted in .

Thanks for the info JOHN.K and asw120. I’ve got a little bit done over the past couple days with some highs and lows.

Looked into the steering box (pictures below). There doesn’t seem to be too much play in the worm drive and needle roller. They both have smooth surfaces with no wear visible. The play seems to be coming from side shift of the sector shaft. The brass bush on the output side is quite worn and the rubber seal was well dried up. The worst part is the sector shaft has some wear on it. Not sure how that is going to effect things. What’s your thoughts on that guys/gals? Not uncommon and should be right or likely to be an issue? There wasn’t a skerrick of oil in there, the sector shaft cover had no gasket and its bolts were basically finger tight. The worm drive bearing under the cap seems fine. I stopped pulling it apart at that point as I’d have needed to work my way up the column. I’ll look for parts and go from there.


Removed the kingpins which was an absolute nightmare, stuck so tight. They’re showing a lot of wear, assume they have been reused a couple times and the brass bushes just replaced, they are also knackered. I’ll get a rebuild kit for them and call it done.

Then for the lights. Parkers worked immediately in the front and back. Headlights required work. The floor switch wasn’t working so it was pulled apart. Gave the contacts a quick sand and put it back together which fixed half of the problem, a light tap on the relay solved the rest. This is when stupid is, stupid does strikes. Whilst in my own world fixing the lights I tested the brake lights which worked a treat, I thought the old pressure switch would have been cactus for sure. I felt nothing in the pedal so wondered where my brake repairs had failed. But nope, the idiot within forgot and wasn’t thinking that I had pulled the front end apart, no drums on the brakes equals a popped wheel cylinder. The cup got pinched a bit but I’m praying it’s not buggered. This wasted an hour to sort out.

The bench seat is booked in to be reupholstered next week. Feels like I’m getting somewhere now which is great. Just need to place an order for parts but want to find as much as I can that needs replacing before doing so.

Cheers, Urchy87

On that sector shaft; there should be NO play in the roller at all, but of course it must turn (a little effort to turn it is OK).
I would think you will have to get the shaft sprayed if it's as worn as it looks. Bronze bushes can be made if not available.
I guess if the journal / shaft is overall smaller than the spline, you could have it ground down true and undersize bushes made? Hard to tell from the picture. Compared to some I've seen, you've gotten off lightly.
Hopefully your wormshaft bearing races are good. My mate was not so lucky.

If that wheel cylinder cup got pinched, I would be very careful inspecting it. The slightest nick and it's toast.

Enjoying your progress, Jarrod.

I would get the sector shaft turned down and bushes made to suit as Jarrod has already suggested

Paul

Thanks asw120 and Mrsmackpaul.

The splines are slightly tapered down. I’ll throw the verniers on it tomorrow and check if the wear is less then the taper.

There is a touch of play in the roller. I will check it against a feeler gauge also tomorrow. Would most engineering firms turn out new bushes or should I look for a business in particular. The closest major town to me is Toowoomba Qld. Thanks.