Saginaw Manual Box Question

A while back Mike (Mcruff) agreed to make me a Saginaw conversion kit based on the drawings posted in the steering section of the earlycj5 tech section. I recieved the kit earlier this week. Mike has done a fantastic job on putting this together for me and I'm very pleased with his work.

As part of the kit, Mike also found me a manual saginaw box from a late model CJ. He also sandblasted and painted the box, but let me know that it would need lube. I opened the housing sector cover and bushing assembly and filled the box with 90W Gear Oil last night and turned the worm shaft back and forth to work the oil through the box. While I was doing this, I noticed a slight binding around the midpoint of the travel. Researching repair/rebuild procedures this morning I found this:

http://www.corvettesteering.com/corvette_steering_tech_tips.htm

It would seem to suggest that this slight binding is normal. If it is I'd be happy to just fill the box and go with it, without tearing down the box completely and then trying to find replacement seals. By binding I mean I feel a slight resistance to turning, but can still move the wormshaft by hand.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Joel: It seems to me that I have heard this also, some time back. If you can turn it easily by hand, I think I would just go with it. Prety good adjustment procedure on that site.

 

Joel be sure to put regular GM manual steering gear dope (Knuckle pudding so to speak) in there as they are not suppose to use gear oil. The gear box also is adjustable by the front nut and lock ring but that is to preload the bearings on the ball screw. The slight drag you feel in there was in the 2 different boxes I looked at, the guy told me you would not notice it once the steering shaft was hooked up.
You should check other people, as I have never dealt with manual steering except in my old Mustang and the old Ross units.

 

Jeep recommends the same grease for manual steering boxes and chassis fittings: "AM all-purpose lubricant or chassis lubricant (lithium base)". You should be careful to follow the adjustment instructions - adjusting the top screw (pitman shaft mesh) must be done after adjusting the bearing preload. I'll post the adjustment instructions for a Saginaw manual box if you want.

 

I just did the conversion with the manual box and also have slight binding in the middle.... although I can't really feel it when I turn the steering wheel.

 

Tim, I could sure use those instructions if you wouldn't mind. They would be very helpful. Thanks.

 

Ok - it came out kind of blurry, so I left it large (1600x1200).
http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/steeringbox.jpg