Bearings in steering box

[Chris Haynes]

I have heard about replacing the bushings in the steering box with bearings. Anybody have information on this?

[GRutter]

You will get varied opinions on this.

Bushings, if properly fitted, will provide 85-90% contact with the sector shaft, and should give years of trouble free service.

Needle bearings, on the other hand, only provide point contact where the needle bearings come into contact with the sector. Needle bearings need to ROTATE in order to stop the effect of peening at the point of contact, and sector shafts are not truly hardened enough to act as a bearing race, especially on a non-rotating sector shaft. Needle bearings need be be properly tensioned to work correctly, and depending on the tolerance of the sector housing and sector shaft, may be too loose.

All of that being said, many owners have converted to needle bearings, and claim it makes the A easier to steer. Another benefit of machining the housing is installation of a modern seal (which could also be fitted to a housing with bushings).

My suggestion if you want to convert to bearings would be to purchase a machined repop sector housing from Snyders (no exchange needed), and save your original sector housing to revert to bushings. Their part number is A-3548-N $87.50 / ea. I would think Brattons and other vendors may offer a similar part.

Personally I prefer bushings and hate modifying good original parts.

[Marshall V. Daut]

A couple years ago I suggested to Snyder's that they should offer a two-tooth housing with bushings AND a seal installed as an alternate choice to the housing they offer with needle bearings and a seal. I told them that more guys prefer to stay with the bushings to reduce slop, but most of us don't have a way to accurately bore the housing to accept a seal without going the route of an expensive machine shop. Well, you can see how much of an impression my suggestion made on Snyder's. Do you see such a housing offered for sale, either as an exchange or as a new one outright? So much for long-standing customer input.
I also suggested offering a new intake manifold already bored out 1/8" to take advantage of Model B carbs that many guys are using. Snyder's already offers new intake manifolds. Why not go the extra step and have the foundry bore out the vertical runner and charge an extra $15-$20 in the catalog? I'd certainly gladly pay that to avoid the know-nothing/do-nothing machine shops in this area. ("We can't make small holes bigger here.", was one machine shop's reply to my request to bore out a manifold's vertical runner 1/8"!!!)
That bored-out manifold is offered in the Snyder's catalog on the same page as the steering housing with bushings and a seal I suggested. (Insert sarcastic font here. )
Marshall

[Larry Jenkins]

They owe you some money.. I'm very surprised that Tom allowed that. As much as I like Snyders, that's stealing.

[1930-Pickup]

Are you converting to needle bearings because the stock system is too hard to steer? Have you ever driven an A with a properly rebuilt stock box?

When I rebuilt my 2-tooth box last year I was amazed how easy it was to steer. All the parts were stock, and I replaced only a few small items.

Of course, if you want easy steering when the car is not moving, then my observations are not much help here.

[700rpm]

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At my age, I don't expect anything except the tires to wear out on my cars. I just have enough time left, even tho I drive my cars year 'round, that everything should last as long as I do. You younger guys might still have enough time to anticipate 50,000 miles on your cars, though.