'65 Rubicon Rig

Now very careful to not lose any bearings, pull the rack piston out. I have a tray under it, some will stay in the housing, but most will be inside the piston.

I used a magnet to fish all the balls out. If you lose one of these, you are tossing the whole thing, so very careful. The instructions I had said 24 balls, and I could only find 22, 11 of each color. (Some are glossy bright, some are dull gray). Take my advice and don't google how many balls you should have, but it turns out 22 is the right number for a small bore box like this.

Next is the pitman shaft bearing snap ring. It was stuck in there good.

I got it out in pieces, I really needed better internal snap ring pliers, which I now have coming from Knipex. The kit I'm using from Edelmann has new snap rings.

 

A lot depends on what your time is worth to you. Rebuilding is not that bad. There is some liability involved if your steering decides
to make a hard left or hard right turn. Ask me how I know, though it was on a gear that sat for many years and was not rebuilt or
driven. Don't loose your balls. Not sure what the different colors are. Maybe some are blue.

 

This is the factory(Kent More) tool for taking that piston out and reinstalling it. You can use any 5/8 OD tube or dowel. It makes it a lot easier to reassemble the tool goes into the center of the piston and holds the bearings in place as you insert the piston back into the gear box, the bearings go back together light/dark, light/dark, ect

 

Next, drive out the sector shaft bearing and 2 seals.

I kept it all in a stack to remind me which way it goes in. The torrington bearing is directional, the letters go in the case first. (Drive from the non-letter side)

Next pull out the stub shaft, valve body and worm shaft.

I am going to drill and tap this for ram assist, like what we have with the 3-turn box currently in the jeep.

Some layout for the holes. The left one goes on the casting seam, the right goes centerline with the long drilled passage that you can see the casting bulge for, as well as the plug put in at the factory after drilling.

 

Clamped it down, started with a 1/4" bit on the way to 7/16".

The right hand hole goes all the way through, the left hand hole goes into the passage, so it's kind of shallow.

Tapped the through hole with a 1/4 NPT x 18 pipe tap, and I used a second tap to make a bottom tap for the blind hole.

I cut off 4 or 5 threads, started the first tap, removed, then used the bottom tap to go the rest of the way.

This is the kit I'm using, either Summit or Amazon.

Now, some assembly required, is an understatement. But it looks much worse than it is.

 

That definitely looks intimidating!

 

I organized all the small parts, to the area they go to. I also thoroughly cleaned the housing, ready for reassembly. On the rack piston, there is one big O-ring with a teflon shield that goes on pretty easily, with a liberal amount of PS fluid on everything from here on out.

The piston could then go in the box, if it would go, but it won't go, with a new fat O-ring.

Solution I saw online- wrap with tape to protect the teflon, and add a "ring compressor" made of a hose clamp, over night.

While I'm waiting for that, I reinstalled a new sector bearing, then the 2 seals and washers and big new snap ring.

Next I followed the instructions for the valve body, input shaft, worm shaft. Several O-rings, 3 on the outside with teflon rings, that are a little bit of a struggle. Just keep it lubed up at all times. There is one little sneaky O-ring internally, but the diagram shows it. Also the new input bearing and seals can go in.

 

Old and new input bearing, seal, dust shield.

Over night the O-ring compressed enough to get the rack piston in. It still takes some force, but it's in.

Then the valve body with all its new O-rings, input shaft, and adjuster nut slide in the other end, and just start the threads on the nut. Lots of lube again.

Then I got the piston lined up to accept the balls. I will put them in the left hand hole, one at a time, alternating color, the first 14, 7 light, 7 dark. As I put them in, I rotate the input slightly to get them to rotate around the worm.

On my next one, I would line up all 22, alternating in a line, that way I can't forget the last color I just put in. But this worked. After the 14 go in, they will eventually appear in the right hand hole.

Next, load up the little tube with the remaining 8, alternating.

Tyrap the halves together, and cap the ends with grease to keep them in. The tyrap tail acts as little handle to get the tube in over the 2 holes.

With all the balls in place, I carefully cut the tyrap, and install the little clamp that holds it in place. Turn the input, it should travel freely though full travel. Exhale now.

 

I tightened the adjuster nut at the input shaft, (sorry no photo), but I put it back the the stake marks I put in during disassembly. Then install the new sector top brass gasket, the O-ring goes up. Bend the tabs over the body, then center up the gear, and slide it in. Torque the top cap bolts.

Install the big O-ring behind the front cover, tap the cover in, then the big snap ring.

2 quick coats of satin black, and some pipe plugs in the assist holes for now. This thing is ready.

I found another one of these 800 boxes, so I am going to go through it also, while it's fresh in my mind. I think I'll either keep the first one as a spare (probably wise, as they are not getting any more plentiful), or sell it if the right person comes along. The second one will go into Sierra next week when Nick is here for the holidays.

Merry Christmas, everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

 

Back to getting the new 4-turn box in the tux. It finally worked out that I could get Nick up here on both of our days off coinciding. Drain it, disconnect the lines (4, since it has hydro assist), remove the 4 bolts to the frame mount.

Put a pitman puller on the pitman arm, and cranked on that thing with an impact. She no move. So about 3 seconds with a torch on the arm, and bang, she's off.
Then I remembered the bumper has to come off, as it's too tight of a fit to drop out the bottom. Not a big deal, 8 bolts, and the winch thankfully can stay with this setup.


We transferred the hydro line fittings to the new box, and cut off the little nub that sticks out on the input shaft. Not sure what that's for.

In with the new. This will be a much-anticipated upgrade to this jeep.

Out with the old big bore box. rebuilt by West Texas Offroad, AKA Redneck Ram. Nothing wrong, and Rubicon tested. I may sell it if anyone wants a pre-drilled and tapped Saginaw box.

 

Well, while I wait for the cylinder head to get back (see http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/158503/#post-1826156) , a little after work 1-beer project since I had the roller fairlead off.

This if for a handy place for the D-handle shovel we're all required to have on the Rubicon. I have these little "quick fist" holders on Woodstock, and they work well.

Quick and easy, tapped 2 holes into the fairlead to mount them. Done.

Now I just need a head to paint and put back on the motor and this weekend would be awesome...

 

But will you get the cylinder head before the impending 30” of snow tomorrow???

 

Only 30? The media has this thing at 10 feet. They just love to blow up and jinx a good storm. Actually the guy I trust most has it at 39 to 58" here at lake level. We will see.

 

sheesh would you even need 4 wheel drive for that?

 

Whys the head off?
Jay

 

Lol, the virginia media said you guys were getting 12 ft! Pretty unfathomable out here, I can't even wrap my head around how you would clear that much.

 

Last machinist (18 years ago) went too deep with the hardened seat, got a leak into the water jacket.

 

For the full story. Makes me worry as I had hardened seats put in mine.
www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/158503

 

Well, I didn't want to go over Kingsbury grade today to get the head with the #snowdumpmageddon going on, so I got stuck with some honey-do projects today. I rationalize this as a combination of "happy wife-blah blah" and if I had to do it, why not now.? Nothing is moving around here, and no sports going on. But since it's kind of slow on the forum, I do have some snow photos.
The Bantam.

We got to the minimum of the forecast I posted (39") today, this was this morning blowing by Lucy the '67. The carb was coughing because it was under the snow. Need a snorkle?

For perspective, there was almost no snow before this storm, only about 50" for the season. This time last year we were at 250". So this is welcome.

There was dirt below the mailbox last week.

I thought about going for a blast around the block in the M37, but it was lunch, and the woodstove sounded better.

 

I was wondering when you were going to check in with the snow report. It hadn't been looking too good for snow in your parts.