P1 Steering box refurbishment

[TonyG]

Hi all,

I’m thinking of pulling the steering box out of TL6200 for refurbishment during it’s winter recess. Can anyone recommend suitable engineers to rebuild my box?

I fitted it with an oversize ‘nut’ when I first took the car to bits about 40 years ago to compensate for wear in the ‘worm’. It has only covered a few miles since but I’ve always felt that fix was, at best, a stop-gap and I’d like to get it done properly to address the play in the steering. All other ball joints and the king pins have been replaced.

I’ve seen adverts from ICS in Birmingham. Any feedback on them would be appreciated.

Thanks all,

Tony.

[HAD501]

Hi Tony

ICS rebuilt the steering box for my 1947 12 several years ago and I'm very pleased with the result. I believe their modification was originally developed for early Land Rovers which use a box similar to the 10/12hp cars, and involves replacing the nut and worm with hardened steel items.

Hope that helps, DaveM

[luli]

Hi Tony,
Some ideas.
See here:
https://lulis.org/2023/07/27/%d7%a0%d7% ... %92%d7%94/

Also here:

https://lulis.org/2018/09/07/51-%d7%92% ... ering-box/

The results are good. Watch the clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYm7XEi50y0

[TonyG]

Dave/Luli,

Thanks for your swift and very helpful responses. I think I will go with ICS; just looked them up and discovered their works is close to an office one of my sons visits in Birmingham, so he can drop it off for me. Now all I have to do is get the box out of the car...

Thanks again.

Tony.

[RobHomewood]

On that topic can anyone tell me how much refurbishing a steering box is likely to cost for a '39 14? I may have to do mine also
Rob

[luli]

In 2013 I contacted ICS about reconditioning a Rover 10 steering box. They promised to get back to me but never did.
I sent that box to Simon Everett who did a good job and charged me 250 pounds. Since than he had retired.
In 2022 I sent another box to Neil Furness who held the box for a year and charged me 720 pounds. It was very unpleasant to deal with him and I am not happy with the result.
The best are the home made boxes...

[RobHomewood]

Thanks Luli but what do you mean by home made boxes?

[luli]

See the links I posted above (white metal, Land rover box).

[Calum]

Forgive me for joining the forum and straight away wading in with some self-promotion, but I really want to try and help people out!

One of the jobs I do in my shop is rebuild Burman worm and nut boxes, and as it happens I have a P1 box in at the moment. I make new nuts out of bronze to fit the existing worm and casing. I can bore the casing if needed for a good fit of the nut. The new nuts I make out of solid round bar which gives greater bearing area in the bore of the casing compared to the original cast ones. Bronze rocker bushes are fitted and honed to suit the rocker arm. The casing will be machined for a modern lipped oil seal to fit on the rocker arm. Reground top races and new balls, etc.

By making the nuts individually to suit each column I can get the best fit possible and it also eliminates the need for any cutting and welding of the column.

There are several photos on my website and Facebook page of my work on S1 Land Rover boxes which are near identical to the P1 boxes save for the column length.

www.cbarrowengineering.co.uk

[TonyG]

Hi Calum,

Thanks for your reply. I have emailed a query regarding steering box refurbishment to you via your website. I look forward to hearing from you.

Tony.