Ross box questions

What officially constitutes a "worn" ross box?

What are the symptoms?

 

rapid uninterupted movement of your jeep in one direction as you franticly spin the wheel in the other R)

 

Ahhh, errr...wouldn't that be the BRB phenomenon? (Busted Ross Box )

 

Crap, don't have no friends.

 

Sorry, my bad, reading the wrong page of the manual

 

another way to find loose linkages, is to slowly turn the wheel and see how long it takes the wheels to turn.

 

Steve, what's a "sector shaft"? There's no mention of it in the FSM. :? Do you mean the "steering gear arm"?

Uhh, "reamer"? What page of the FSM is that? :?

 

a sector shaft is the horizontal shaft which sticks out the side of the box and the steering arm is attached to it. on the inside end of this shaft there is a sector with two small steel nibs that ride in the grooves of the worm gear. the nibs wear and cause slack in your steering wheel, when you turn it from one direction to the other there is an inch or two before the sector will begin to move.

the worm gear is on the end of the shaft your steering wheel is on.

the sector shaft rides in 2 bushings and has a seal where it exits the box, these bushings wear out and the shaft will have slop in it.

there is an adjustment screw in the center of the box cover, but it will only adjust out some slack from worn nibs.

when installing new sector shaft bushings, they usually will need to be reamed after being pressed in to give a very close fit for the sector shaft.

 

I'm In The Middle Of Rebuilding My Ross Right Now. I've Read The Instrutions In Jeep Cj By Moses Ludel Which Are Very Good. But Even Better Is Vernco.com For The Ross Rebuild. Vern Not Only Goes Into More Detail . He Even Shows You The Reamer You Need. And The Pics Are Better. There Is Two Reamers I Found At Two Tool Stores. The Pro Reamer Is $76.00 And The One Vern Calls For Is $23.00. You Don't Need The Pro One. Reaming Out The Bushings Was The Scary Part But It Turned Out To Be Simple And Easy With The Reamer. Both Instructions Say That You Need To Press Out The Bushings. That's Not True. Just Take A Brass Or Bronze Drift And Tap Them Out. From Inside To The Outside. They Are Split Bushings So It's Not Hard. I'm Waiting For A New Tube And Cam ( Shaft & Worm Gear ) To Finish Up. Good Luck.

 

Ps: The Reamer Comes In Different Sizes . Vern Says 15/16 " But The Clerk At The Tool Store Came Up With Another Set Of Sizes. Make Sure It's The Right One.

 

There are at least 2 sizes of sector shaft, the one for the early CJs and one for the V6 only. the V6 is the larger size abviously. the length of the worm shaft is different between the two as well.

 

Jim.J.
I couldn't find the Vernco write up on his site. Do you remember what section it was under?

 

Go To Vernco.com Then Site Map Then 1951 Willys Wagon

 

Cool, didn't look under the wagon. Thanks.

 

Good thread. Going to be my next project.

 

Regarding the "cheap" reamer....be careful. Very careful. I ordered one, and found out the hard way that the crappy thing was tapered. Guess which end I put in first thinking it was the right size? The one that was sent as a replacement was even more tapered. I set the reamer to be just barely less than what I needed and ran it through. This left the bushings a bit snug on the shaft, but a bit of working it in with oil left it feeling good.
That is to say, the bushings will compress a little, and working the sector shaft into a slightly snug bushing will give a good fit. YMMV.

Definately take your time, do a LITTLE at a time then check, repeat as necessary, or you'll be looking for new bushings...Don't ask.
Also, sometimes, you can run the reamer through a second time without resetting it, and you'll shave another half a thou or so.

 

Might want to just ask here if someone has a reamer for sale/rent/borrow/throw away, that may get you through

 

Which one to use here?

 

Hippo393, I've Never Seen Any Of Them.