replacing worn steering...

[Twin Pinzies]

I have noticed that my steering has become VERY sloppy. I have already tightened the adjuster screw in the front of the gearbox but the play is coming from the top of steering shaft (just under the steering wheel). Has anyone done this? I have a rebuild kit ordered, but would love some enlightenment from anyone who has done this first hand. Is there any special things I should be looking for? I will be pulling the wheel here in a bit and see what happens. Thanks in advance!

[mjnims]

rebuilt the box in my 712. The only real issues I had was that one shaft was bent and had to be cut to remove it and upon installation the bearings were very tight. I had to use a brake hone to open up the brass so the shafts would fit. If I were to do it again I would cut them to make them like the originals. Not being a high speed bearing the slot left from the cut should only allow the lube to get to the whole surface. I did get the complete rebuild kit with both shafts and bearings.
In reflection the hardest thing about this has been keeping the box tight in the truck. It seems that no matter how much locktite, or type of locktite, the box brackets want to work loose over time.
All in all a very straight forward project which really made turning the steering much smoother.

[Twin Pinzies]

Thanks for the reply. Did you have any issues removing the press-fitted steering wheel and pitman arm? I have the pitman arm removal tool ordered along with the rebuild kit. I plan to simply unbolt and swap the entire steering system from another Pinzgauer, then rebuilding the trashed one in a shop.
I'm not really a mechanic, so if anyone has any basics hints or tips, please let me know!!! Thanks.

[Profpinz]

The bearing surface on the output shaft does become worn and grooved, with time/wear and it's almost impossible to "skim" the surface to remove these marks because of the splined end (Machining to remove them would necessitate running the cut all the way to the end, so the shaft can be refitted, but in doing so you would have to machine the splined section).

As with the Haflinger (the setup is similar....just bigger in the Pinny) I tend to machine a new bearing/bush that is slightly undersize and "squeeze" the shaft back in place. Once it's forced home and seated in the worn area it naturally becomes slightly loose .... generally just enought to remove the "slop"!

People have suggested building up the shaft damage with various electroplating or metal spray techniques over the years, but I don't like doing any such things to steering components.

For me all the above is "history" nowdays, as I run an custom PS box in one Pinny and a factory PS setup in the other

[mjnims]

If you have the pitman arm removal tool and either a steering wheel puller or a few well placed taps with a dead blow type hammer to the back of the steering wheel you should be good to go. The Steering wheels are on splines and become crusted on. Once the retaining nut is removed they will come off, just takes a little effort some times.

The rebuild kit from SAV includes all the shafts and bushings so there really is no worry about grooves in the shaft as you will be replacing it anyway. The one shaft goes down to the pitman arm and the other all the way up to the steering wheel. Very nice kit.

Power steering would be nice but all the options seem to run the price range of another pinz.

[Twin Pinzies]

So the steering finally totally failed all together (as in spin the wheel and nothing happens!). Upon rebuilding it, I found that the worm gear shaft was snapped in half and the short shaft gear was dinged and grooved.
It was tough getting the old brass bushings out. The new ones went in fine but needed serious honing in order for the short shafts to fit through.
The bearings were fine but needed cleaning since they had metal shards in them. The bearing races were a tad grooved, but not too bad.
The steering feels better. Fairly smooth and no leaks.