broken steering shaft problem/Replaced

I have a question for ya.
I was moving around the jeeps earlier today after Jon left and went to turn Achilles around, and the steering wheel popped loose. It was feeling wierd a few turns to that . The dash was moving and the outer tube was flopping around a little. I looked at it briefly, and it looks like the worm gear stayed in the box and you can see the inner shaft. THe outer tube came loose/broke at the steering box clamp. Is it possible for the worm gear to work its way loose from the shaft? or did it break on me?

Anyone know what happened to it?

btw--it came apart at the bottom by the box. the wheel didn't pop off in my hands.

 

Jeez, I hate it when that happens .

The inner shaft won't come out, it's held in the steering box by a the upper bearing & retainer. The outer tube is held onto the aforementioned bearing reatainer with a clamp. That locates the tube & shaft at the bottom, there's a bearing at the top of the tube as well, just below the wheel.

I'm curious that there was so much movement that the dash was moving, the inner shaft should be pretty stiff on it own as it's secured in the box with a bearing at each end. To me it sounds like the bearings are shot or maybe the three bolts that secure the steering box to the frame may have come loose. Might wanna check that before your next road trip .

Howard.

 

So Brian, did this start after a long drive? Did it come on all of the sudden??? Sometimes things start getting worse, but you don't notice it until it gets bad.

 

I'm going out to look at it in a few minutes, but the "clamp" with the 3 bolts that bolts onto the top of the ross box is still tight. The outer tube was pulled loose at the bottom by the steering box. THe worm gear LOOKS like its not attached to the steering shaft. The only thing that is holding the steering wheel on is the horn wire. I could pull the thing right out if I wanted to.

I'm going out to take another look at it, and I'll take some pictures too. Just waiting for enough good light so the pics come out.

Yea, its a REALLY good thing I wasn't going down grand river when that happened. I would have lost all steering and would have been testing the braking power of those 10" drums.

 

Well, I found out what the problem was...

This is what I was looking at while describing everything above.


This is what I'm now looking at after I took the column out and the worm gear out of the gear box. :evil:


I guess the only good thing is that it did happen while I was in my yard, stopped, and turning the wheel. I was going to drive it 100 miles round trip friday night to work. I drove my truck instead. Didn't drive it untill yesterday when this happened. I can only assume the worst when I think that this could have busted on the highway doing 65+mph.

 

Jon, that shaft snapped. it didn't come apart.
But yea, if you can use it, its yours. I actually have another I can use. I'm going out in a few to install it.

Gotta love the jeep junk pile

 

actually, just went out to look at it, and its a different box. the extra is smaller.
part # on the box that was on my jeep
TL 125999

part# on extra box
TL 125996

Anyone know what the extra one is off of? THe steering wheel is only attached by a nut also.(the nut is flush with the front of the steering wheel. There's no recess for the horn button like the one thats on my jeep.

 

Allright, one other question here. I have to use the complete steering assembly from the other column. Box, shaft, wheel... The extra ross box has a crack where the mounting flange meets the box. So, I have to do a little welding and see if I can get that fixed up. Other than that, I just cleaned the box out and got it ready to weld and then paint.

Hopefully in a few hours I'll have it back together.


guess I forgot my one question...

that box is steel right? just checking to see if its cast iron or something.

 

Just an update for anyone following along.

I got the extra ross box cleaned up and painted. The new one is a little smaller, I'm assuming its an older box since the part numbers on it are less than the bigger one? The only problem I ran into was the bearings didn't have any retainer/spacer deal to keep them in place. I had to put the shaft in the box and put each ball bearing in place, one by one. SO, in order to install the box, I had to push the column with box attached up from the bottom of the tub. And of course the exhaust was in the way, so i had to drop that, then the "sector shaft?" I think thats what its called, had to come off the gearbox so it would clear the engine block. I finally managed to get everything lined back up and right now the bolts are there, They just need to be tightened down. I ran out of time before work yesterday.

Man that was a Pain In the A$$!!!
I had that box all nice and perfectly clean and painted, and filled with gear oil, and had to take the cover back off so I could get that sector shaft out and dumped gear oil all over the gear box, and the frame, and the master cylinder, and the exhaust... You get the idea. ;P

 

Ok, maybe that explains it then. Thanks Alan