Kit 18 Steering gear

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback (especially Lynn). I will have a quick chat with Steve tomorrow at STW before I try Lynn's method.

All the best,

Brian

Hi Brian,

Been busy all day so only just logged on and seen your post. I spoke to Steve about it.

I filed down the casting to give enough clearance between the collar on the top and top of the thread on the steering column.

Basically you should be able to tighten the worm right up to the stop on the thread of the steering column. Then to tighten it all up, put the worm in the vice with soft grips and torque up the retaining nut.

hope this helps, It worked for me.

cheers

Rick

Rickster wrote:Hi Brian,
Been busy all day so only just logged on and seen your post. I spoke to Steve about it.
I filed down the casting to give enough clearance between the collar on the top and top of the thread on the steering column.
Basically you should be able to tighten the worm right up to the stop on the thread of the steering column. Then to tighten it all up, put the worm in the vice with soft grips and torque up the retaining nut.
hope this helps, It worked for me.

cheers

Rick

Well, I have put off fitting the steering gear until now having only recently assembled my belly tank and guess what - same problem here regarding the tightenng of the locking nut and worm to the steering shaft. I am going over old groud here Rick but if I run the worm up as far as it will go on the thread at the end of the steering shaft as you described for yours, the gap between the end of the worm and the collar is about 10mm less than the thickness of the bracket it goes through suggesting my steering shaft has been threaded to far or the worm itself. I would have thought a sollet pin would have been the best thing to lock the worm in the right place and tight. Worst thing anyone could have is the worm unscrewing when your trying to turn on the road.

Tony King wrote:Hi Rick,
I also have been having problems, same as you, the steering wheel was going very stiff at two positions in each revoltion of the steering wheel.
I observed the problem was when the new part of the worm gear started to engage with the teeth on the chain shaft gear.
I very carefully reshaped the point of contact on the worm & that helped, I then also, again very carefully, removed some metal from all the gear teeth edges.
The steering now works but is not as free as it is on my Agricultural engine, so I'll take it apart again & do some more "fettling"!! The trouble is, the way these gears mesh is very complicated & shape of the teeth is key to "efficient" operation, so although I'm taking the chance to sort it out, I think that STW best be consulted before you attempt what I'm doing!!
I would imagine there is an issue with either the machining of the gears or the centre distance between the shafts.
Hope this helps
Tony

Additionally, the mesh between the worm and wheel is not right as Tony described in his post earlier, it is very notchy every half a turn as the start of the helix on the worm tries to engage the tooth on the wheel. The wear would suggest the angle of the worm or wheel is out, especialy looking at the marking on the teeth. The runnung surface should be in the centre of the wheel, not on the corner. Looking through the teeth when they are on the engine is is plain to see that the gears do not line up and the photo Lynn put on this thread shows it too. Short of filing every tooth on the wheel which seems a bit drastic and will make more backlash in the gear not sure what else can be done if the orignal gear machining was out. I will ask Steve when I pop in on Wedensday to swap my belly tank front bracket.

tony, did you do anymore work on your worm and wheel for this problem?

Frustrated

Brian

Hi Brian,
The answer to your question is yes. I had it apart quite a few times, removing metal from worm & gear very carefully , putting back together & operating steering to see where things rubbed. I used a fine flap wheel in my angle grinder!! It took a bit of courage to actually do this, but it actually worked very well for me, as steering is now nice & free & no sloppyness at all!!
Hope this helps
Regards,
Tony

Brian,

Just bring your worm and worm wheel in with you on Wednesday. We had a couple of different batches of these which are not compatible with each other and i think thats your problem.

Easy solution............we'll just swap them to a mating pair.

Over worked and equally frustated

Dean

Hello All,

I also had issues with travel on the thread and so locking up the steering. Therefore, I have had the thread removed from the bottom part of the shaft (and worm) and keyways added to both the top and bottom of the shaft.

Personally, I did not feel happy with all that weight on the front when turning the wheel on a rally field (or when doing road runs), which is held together by a single nut (and lock tight).

This was just my feeling, so I had the modifications made.

All the best,

Brian

Steam Traction World wrote:Brian,

Just bring your worm and worm wheel in with you on Wednesday. We had a couple of different batches of these which are not compatible with each other and i think thats your problem.

Easy solution............we'll just swap them to a mating pair.

Over worked and equally frustated

Dean

Thanks Dean, I had them in a bag already to ask that very question, see you tomorrow afternoon.

Brian

Brian M wrote:Hello All,

I also had issues with travel on the thread and so locking up the steering. Therefore, I have had the thread removed from the bottom part of the shaft (and worm) and keyways added to both the top and bottom of the shaft.

Personally, I did not feel happy with all that weight on the front when turning the wheel on a rally field (or when doing road runs), which is held together by a single nut (and lock tight).

This was just my feeling, so I had the modifications made.

All the best,

Brian

Brian

Was that something Clive helped you with? I must join AMTEC!

You must have had to sleeve the worm or the shaft as it would have made the work hole bigger (not an outer space worm hole ) and the shaft smaller when removing the threads. Do you have a picture of this?

I may keep the thread and then use 2 sollet pins to lock the worm in place.

Brian

Brian

Hi Brian, we had a chat with Clive and Rob and it was Rob who did the mods for us at his workshop, nice job too I must say. Its great the guys in AMTEC have a wealth of knowledge and you pick up so much by just talking to them. We have just brought 3 more kits and putting them on the engines now (up to kit 22, it is good being behind because you are always in catch up, seems strange that we only brought the 1st batch of kits 12 months ago. It was the end of Feb when we received the first delivery of 6 kits). Hoping to get Brian's engine to the Antrobus Arms as it was mine at the Leigh Arms at the end of April, few of the lads and lasses are coming down........No I hear my liver cry soooooo soon to start drinking again.

Oh well

Dean

Thanks for the worm & wheel swap, fitted it tonight and it runs smoooooth!!

Hi Dwayne

Just picked up kit 23 today myself (the month of March kit for me, collected as I was passing to save the STW folks the postage costs) and will take the cleading kit and kit 24 in April so I will be up to speed with those furthest ahead although I will no doubt be slower than Lynn, Tony and Kev in terms of fitting them. I got my first kit in September 2010 so I have also been playing catch up - look forward to having a steam up with the Cheshire gang this year.

I have access to some equipment to do that but not locally. As things run smooth now I will pin the worm to the shaft once I have locked it in position with the nut and retaining fluid. I can do this with what is in my garage. No milling machine for keyways!

I will put the Antrobus Arms do on the year planner and try to get there to see the OTHER engine in "Crimson Lake" or RED as I called it much to Brian's anoyance

Cheers all

Brian

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