Karmann ghia steering box 1960

[Haans]

hi all,..the 3rd attempt to put this in some format,.. for you to get what is going on.
Haans's steering is a bit sloppy lately and I decided it is time to do something about it.
1'st tools were made "according" to the the box in my stash,... see last pic.
expecting to see a box like in 2'nd pic ???
to my surprise I found this ,... pic 1,..with a brass plug in place of the "adjuster"

out with the fuel tank and opened the top of the box to find that is depicted in the 3rd "download",..... I could not find anything on how to sort my issue out on mrs Google ? ,..except this picture
No 26 in this picture looked like something that could "adjust" but no luck,.. the slot for the lock bolt prevents it.
So,.... I put all back and adjusted the screw with locknut on the outside of the top of the steering box,......sloppyness reduced but not completely gone,. and steering a bit stiffer,....which is to be expected.

anybody experienced this before ? any advice ?

regards Haans

[AlanH]

Hi Haans, whilst not on a VW steering I had issues on another make. I think the problem is that the worm wears out it the position straight ahead over time and many km's. What I would do is adjust all the arms slightly off centre and then remove and refit to be straight again. Thereby you would shift the sloppiness to one side which would not be as noticeable as you would be turning anyway. The danger in adjusting the other screw is that you force the pin down into the widened worm which results in stiffer turning s you mentioned over the good part of the worm. At the same time you will suddenly find that after turning your steering does not return to straight as easily and can even get "stuck". Only other option is to get a new steering box or get someone in the know that can repair the shafts inside the steering box.
Hope this makes sense, if not just ask again and I can maybe try explain differently.

[Haans]

thanks for the response Allen,...makes sense what you say.
this is what I think

see attached marked up.
1 is the "shoe" that fits onto the worm,..sliding up and down,....fact there is some play between the grooves on the shoe and the worm.
but !!! there's a pin that connects the shoe point 2,... to the top of the "pittman" arm, I think it's called,... point 3 on the diagram,.....now this is where I found most of the "slop".
yes due to the radial movement of the arm,...... you need a sort of a slot for this pin to move in to allow the Pittman to go up or down .
but that pin is literally falling around in the slot.
that means the "sloppyness" accumulates at the drop arm compounded !!, which means the whole box to be removed and see if the pin can be reworked,. pittman arm slot reworked to fit new pin , etc, etc
my reasoning fair on this lot ? to you

At this stage I think the the latter model box ( in the stash) will have to be further investigated to see if it will work in the ghia.

thanks for taking time to listen to my sad story !!

Haans

[AlanH]

Hi Haans, I never stripped a VW steering box but what you say could be true. I would strip and check. I am sure there a engineering works out there that can make either bushes or build up and grind to spec.

[Haans]

Proabably the first taskafter George show,........will updateafterwards
Haansp

[Haans]

Evenin All,. update on the steering box

this is what the "droparm" and worm configuration looks like on the ghia box,.....compare that with the last pic of a beetle box, ?......same thing but totally different !!



2nd & 3rd pics are of the "layout" within the ghia steering box.
1st you have the half ball with the same thread config as the worm,...this half ball runs up and down the screw . then there is the drop
arm that has a cup like bowl that fits over this half ball,..this then moves with the half ball up and down the screw which transfers the movement down to the pittman arm onto the tierods,.....
So what ,.. I hear you say !,...... why the play ???........ found some play on the droparm and the casting,... no bush there but it seemed negligible at that stage,.....Oh and some wear between the halfball and the cup,...for which I did not have an answer at the time.
so,....cleaned it up,...new seal at the bottom of the droparm,....bit of grease on the bearing,.. AND Wynns Charge( Retrovan's idea) I think,.. thicker that golden syrup !!!! into it and back in the car.
Bottom line,.... it needed some fine tuning on the adjustment,.......better than before,....still about 30 - 50mm play on the steering.

Ps nothing is interchangable between these steering boxes
Droparm of beetle box is more than 5mm smaller in diameter
Pittman arm of beetle box is just over 12 mm longer than ghia's,.. in the future if I go beetle box route,. I will have to adjust tierod lenghts to suit

That's the long and the short of it.
Regards Haans