Ross steering rebuild

[euroford]

I figured it would be worth sharing my experience with the Ross steering setup. Surely several people here are fully familiar with it, but i'm also sure (since i had to figure it out) that there are not that many good resources out there that cover the topic thoroughly.

First off: WARNING. i've now effectively 100% completely dialed my ross steering setup, and i'm also 100% of the opinion that it fucking blows and will all get yanked out and sold on craigslist as soon as i can afford to do the Saginaw swap the way i want it done.

Yes though, it does work, within limits. I can safely drive my cj3a up the road at 45mph on 32" tires. it has more play than i desire, and a relatively poor feel, and i have nagging sense in the back of my head that in an emergency traffic situation i'm not entirely confident it will do what needs to be done.

But it works. If your dead set on keeping it originally, you can fix up the Ross steering with relatively little skill and not much money, and you can drive your machine around.

All of my parts were obtained from Mile High Jeep Rebuilders. Fortunately I live in the Denver area, so i can hop in the car and drive 20 minutes and have access to just about any willys part a guy could need. prices are cheap and customer service is excellent. I have trouble getting out of there on a short timeline, i always end up chatting away for awhile. They are also an online retailer, so anybody can get parts shipped.

you will have several tasks to perform, I found each of them to make a markable improvement in the steering, they should all be addressed, but if you are not going to do them all in one shot, i suggest you do them in this order.

1. Steering Box rebuild with new sector shaft and bushings.
2. New drag link bushings.
3. Bellcrank Pivot.
4. Tie Rod Ends.
5. Alignment*

* Alignment is critical at various stages, obviously.

I'm going to allow myself to be re-distracted by work right now, i'm also going to take some photos, and then begin the next post with the Ross box itself. If anybody wishes to add to this, please do so.

[euroford]

Okay, moving on to the Ross box rebuild.

First things first, your going to need a rebuild kit. I ended up going through two of these, the first one i bought ended up being of very poor quality and wore out after only a couple of drives, the second one i bought was made by a company called "Wat" and has worked out just fine. The kit included a new sector shaft, two new brass bushings, a new seal and a new gasket for the box.

listed here:

http://www.milehijeep.com/app/18027-...aft-41-71.html

when you get the kit home, take the bushings out of the box and go put them in the freezer. my wife is pretty cool, and i do most of the cooking, so its not really a problem around here. if this is a problem for you, i can't really help you, but its worth working out as this will seriously aid installation.

okay, with most of your parts on your workbench, and some of them in your wifes freezer, its time to get to work.

your first task is going to be getting the steering wheel off. you should have stopped by Harbor Freight while your out getting the sector shaft, because your going to need a couple of tools.



on the left is giant freekin bearing spreader. on the right is a great big huge puller. the big huge puller came in a four pack of pullers in various sizes. this stuff cost less than $40 and its indispensable for this job, and handy for others.

i tried about 30 different methods before some google searches showed me this one. it works, i suggest you skip the farting around and just do it this way.

pull off the steering wheel nut with a 7/8" socket and soak the steering shaft/steering wheel down liberally with PB blaster. i'd actually advise you begin doing this for a couple of days before you do the actual steering wheel extraction. place the nut back on a couple of threads, and then install the gadgets like this.



grab hold of the wheel (or have your wife hold it like i did) and start cranking. hopefully you won't crack your steering wheel, i guarantee this is the least likely way to damage something, but mine was really on there, and the wheel did crack, but its still okay.


after you have the wheel off, unbolt the steering column bracket and pull out the steering column tube. there might be a clamp down between the column tube and the box, loosen this to get the tube out, you should be able to reach it from below.

now get down on the ground under your rig and look up.



you'll need to remove the drag link from the arm on the steering box. personally i use a vintage chounard lost arrow piton for this. if you don't have any climbing gear in your garage i'm sure you can figure out something that will work just as well.

don't you love those awesome motor mounts that the PO made? he also did a super job with the tailight wiring....



here's what the box looks like in the fenderwell. the two half inch bolts are for the brakes, two of the 5/8" bolts are for the ross box, as is the 3rd 11/16"... (uhg)

after you pull out those bolts, the box is free to come out. i don't have to jack mine up or anything, a little bit of wrangling and the whole thing will slide out the bottom.

as for actually rebuilding the box itself, this guys tutorial is pretty darn good.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/ho...1963-a-757027/

personally i used an 11/16 socket to remove and install the new bushings.



when installing the new bushing, pull them one at time out of the freezer and work quickly, they should go in with 2-3 nice firm smacks. I use my favorite 18 oz Kong Eagle piton hammer.

if you loose any of the bearings, do not cry. Grab yourself a micrometer and head up to napa, have them get out a couple of wheel bearings and you should be able to find one you can butcher for replacements for like $4.


DO NOT reinstall the arm on the box until after you have the box back in your rig. reinstall the box, make sure your wheels are straight, and turn the steering wheel back and forth counting the turns untill you are able to precisely locate the center. the tolerance between the sector shaft and worm gear is tightest at the center. only after you have cenered everything up, reinstall the arm, bolt everything else back together and then adjust the sector arm preload using a flathead screwdriver.

you need to have this as tight as you can, without causing any bind. if you bind it up, your new sector shaft will get eatin up pretty quickly.


The ross box has a grease fitting, and the subject of what grease should be in here is pretty hotly debated around the interwebs. i'm not seeing it. through trial and error i've tried some different versions, and i've come to the opinion that regular grease, the stuff you already have in your grease gun, works absolutely fine.

[euroford]

oops, wrong thread.

[jalbrecht42]

Originally Posted by euroford

First things first, your going to need a rebuild kit. I ended up going through two of these, the first one i bought ended up being of very poor quality and wore out after only a couple of drives, the second one i bought was made by a company called "Wat" and has worked out just fine. The kit included a new sector shaft, two new brass bushings, a new seal and a new gasket for the box.

listed here:

http://www.milehijeep.com/app/18027-...aft-41-71.html

Nice writeup, I enjoyed reading it... looks like you've got a fun little flatty project.

The link you posted lists this as an omix ada part. Is this a part made by Wat and distributed through omix? What brand did you get the first time? (the one that didn't hold up).

I'm thinking it's about time to rebuild my Ross box (again) one of these days.. It's hard to justify spending the money and effort when I should really do something else entirely. I'm on the fence on what exactly I should do though. Saginaw will interfere with my winch setup, the Ford box looks like a major PITA...

[euroford]

yeah it is a tough call. personally i have financial limitations on how much i can dedicate to my flatty project right now, and the major goal over this winter was just to get it straightened out enough to be usable this summer. Though i have to say, going the Saginaw PS route may be allot of work and expense, but it is going to be worth it, like i said, my ross is as good as can be, and its not very good. IMO

Yes, the two different parts are all distributed by Omix. Though the owner of Mile High was pretty perplexed that i had a problem, he said he'd never had that happen before. i was pretty sure that i overtightened it and messed it up myself, but he assured me that wasn't the case, and felt it was defective, and took care of me well on the replacement part.

[sign_man]

One mistake here is the use of grease, the box is designed to be in oil. After the seal blows many take a grease zerk and replace the 1/8" NPT filler plug, but this is a temporary solution, the grease gets displaced and wear continues.

The other thing anyone who works on a Ross box needs is a Tightsteer from Walck's, it is a better mousetrap and removes all the play! Willys Jeep Parts, Restoration & Wiring from Walck's 4 Wheel Drive | TightSteer - Only Free Play Reducer For Ross Steering Boxes