BillGrissom
Well-Known Member
Hope this helps someone.
Doing general rebuild and painting of the engine compartment of a 65 Dart 273 and thought prudent to rebuild the power steering. Haven't driven the car yet and no indication of leaks or problems, might have been smarter to have left as is.
Gearbox casting marks: "G-2267262", "R2", and "3208" (date code?). This is a pre-73 "small shaft" gearbox, w/ 1.125"D Pitmann shaft. I used rebuild Kit - Edelmann 7895 "Seal Kit" (no bearings). Side-note: early C-bodies used the 1.25"D "large shaft" gear-box, later used in all bodies 73+.
First photo is the gear-box input shaft parts under the staked nut. The left-most part (cylinder head) rotates up on the left side, other parts rotate up on the right side as shown stacked. The FSM drawings aren't as clear and rebuild kits have even worse copies. While disassembled, I wire-brushed and painted the housing w/ Rust Destroyer primer and 500F engine paint (sits near exhaust).
Removing the staked nut on input shaft wasn't trivial. I buggered up the steering column splines a bit by holding w/ vise grips and had to file to fix. I used a small screwdriver to pry up the stakes on the nut, but still had to turn it to free. The FSM mentions a special tool. I should have used my steering coupler as such tool since I later removed it for a rebuild.
Interestingly, the coupler doesn't have a wide slot to match the one on the input shaft. I recall one on my '69 Dart and '65 Newport. I will have to carefully align the steering wheel. The Pitmann shaft has 4 wide slots that match the Pitmann arm. I recall only 1 slot on other cars.
The "piston" is the large toothed cylinder on the worm shaft. The FSM mentions replacing the metal "piston ring", but my rebuild kit had none, plus I didn't see how to remove it since it has interlocking fingers. I left mine original.
Issues and concerns:
1. The red seal on the worm shaft was a b**. Hard plastic and broke when I stretched to remove it. The replacement was blue and took 3 hands (wife) to stretch around the shaft w/ mini-screwdrivers. Then it was permanently stretched and had to be stuffed into the bore in the cylinder head. I know teflon O-rings aren't normally stretched to fit in a groove, so didn't seem right, but the shaft appears to be 1-piece, so no other way. The hard plastic didn't feel like teflon.
2. The center bearing spacer (disk w/ radial slot) can be installed 2 ways. This puts the cylinder head "ferrule" on one side or the other in the final assembly. The FSM doesn't show, so I oriented as I think it was. Probably doesn't matter since just left or right, not up or down, and evern gravity probably wouldn't matter. You can tell from outside which way yours is since the ferrule fits into the thicker of 4 webs on the housing head. Mine is on the outside (driver's side). Maybe that should count in judging car shows.
3. Before staking the new nut, make sure you have the right torque. I didn't use the "string and spring scale" method mentioned in the FSM, but just spun the center spacer by hand. The friction changes greatly with the slightest tweak, and even from staking the nut, so careful feel is best.
4. The parts outside the staked nut install only one way, and fairly obvious. Use vaseline to hold the rings in the housing head as you slide it all in. That is probably the biggest FU people make.
5. The input shaft seal seems to stick out too much, so the lip partly rides on the recessed section. I beat the seal in as much as possible. Perhaps the body is too thick. I should have compared to the old one. Another case of "is the kit part exact?".
6. The output shaft seal seemed too tight against the needle bearing, even though no gap to the washer (against circlip). I hope it doesn't cause the bearing to bind. It was very hard to work the sector shaft spline step past this seal. I had to go around it w/ a small screwdriver from the outside, pushing the inner lip up. Perhaps rebuild shops have a cone to ease the shaft thru, or maybe my kit's seal wasn't quite right.
7. The kit was missing the thick, square O-ring under sector shaft adjustment nut. Fortunately, I had a square O-ring that worked (round one might also work). The rebuild kit had an aluminum tab (to lock adjusment?). It didn't seem to fit on my gear since my nut has an inner cone to squeeze in on the O-ring and fits in a recess in the dome, so I didn't use.
8. The kit didn't have an O-ring quite big enough for the large port on the valve body. I had to re-use the old one. Indeed, none of the rubber in my gearbox looked degraded, so the rebuild was probably uneeded.
9. Installing the gearbox was a b***. At this point, I had installed everything else, since holding off the pwr steering rebuild for a winter "dining table job", plus I recalled easily installing the gearbox in my 69 Slant Six decades ago. I should have thought about this "stuffed-in" V-8 in the early A's. Had to back-track and remove the mini-starter and jack up the engine. The FSM mentions such, but says to just slightly lift the engine. I had to lift >2" and scratched much paint before getting to that. The gear is so heavy, I strapped a rope to the valve body to hold it while maneuvering into place. The FSM says on a Slant, it can drop in from the top.
10. Had to loosen my motor mount and rotate down to get the stud in the slot. Perhaps because the mounts are new they want to sit at the very top of the slots and one can't get a wrench well on the left one (under the fold). Maybe my mounts aren't quite right. I bought DEA Products A2338, ~$10 ea on ebay, much less than ~$100/set I see people ask for used ones.
11. After rebuilding and painting my TRW pump, found I couldn't use it. The rebuild was simple and straightforward. I used a Harbor Freight "Pulley Puller" set, which fit perfect. I had switched to the later alum water pump to match the later radiator (passenger-side lower hose), not appreciating the implications. I don't think brackets were ever made for the TRW pump. Instead, I got a rebuilt Federal pump (looks similar) for ~$45 (rockauto), less than I sometimes see used pumps sell. I had to buy new brackets for $75 since all the "pump w/ brackets" I saw were missing the small triangular one that bolts to the lower block. The Federal pump clears the K-frame with only 0.5" to spare at the rear. I wonder how long before my new engine mounts sag that away. It wouldn't work with the thin later mounts I originally had on.
12. Remaining task is to find pulleys to align everything. I have 2 pulleys off Federal pumps and they are totally different. One is slighlty recessed and the other sticks way out, perhaps for a BB, though both had (partial) SB brackets installed. There seem to have been many combinations - cast or alum water pump, AC or non-AC, manual or pwr steering, and every possible combination of these. I don't care to try the pulley on my TRW pump since a pain to re-install - no threads to pull it on, must press or beat it on while supporting the back of the shaft (remove reservoir).
After working on a Slant Six and C-body, I better appreciate the effort the designers made to squeeze these V-8's into early Darts. No extra inches for leeway, and you must plan each job with military precision, similar to working on a Porsche. I hope my gear-box rebuild works because PIA to remove. Finally, I am in no way advertising and would never rebuild your gear-box, but am happy to give advice and ridicule.
View attachment piston and worm gear.jpg
View attachment final assembly.jpg
View attachment PICT0121.JPG
Doing general rebuild and painting of the engine compartment of a 65 Dart 273 and thought prudent to rebuild the power steering. Haven't driven the car yet and no indication of leaks or problems, might have been smarter to have left as is.
Gearbox casting marks: "G-2267262", "R2", and "3208" (date code?). This is a pre-73 "small shaft" gearbox, w/ 1.125"D Pitmann shaft. I used rebuild Kit - Edelmann 7895 "Seal Kit" (no bearings). Side-note: early C-bodies used the 1.25"D "large shaft" gear-box, later used in all bodies 73+.
First photo is the gear-box input shaft parts under the staked nut. The left-most part (cylinder head) rotates up on the left side, other parts rotate up on the right side as shown stacked. The FSM drawings aren't as clear and rebuild kits have even worse copies. While disassembled, I wire-brushed and painted the housing w/ Rust Destroyer primer and 500F engine paint (sits near exhaust).
Removing the staked nut on input shaft wasn't trivial. I buggered up the steering column splines a bit by holding w/ vise grips and had to file to fix. I used a small screwdriver to pry up the stakes on the nut, but still had to turn it to free. The FSM mentions a special tool. I should have used my steering coupler as such tool since I later removed it for a rebuild.
Interestingly, the coupler doesn't have a wide slot to match the one on the input shaft. I recall one on my '69 Dart and '65 Newport. I will have to carefully align the steering wheel. The Pitmann shaft has 4 wide slots that match the Pitmann arm. I recall only 1 slot on other cars.
The "piston" is the large toothed cylinder on the worm shaft. The FSM mentions replacing the metal "piston ring", but my rebuild kit had none, plus I didn't see how to remove it since it has interlocking fingers. I left mine original.
Issues and concerns:
1. The red seal on the worm shaft was a b**. Hard plastic and broke when I stretched to remove it. The replacement was blue and took 3 hands (wife) to stretch around the shaft w/ mini-screwdrivers. Then it was permanently stretched and had to be stuffed into the bore in the cylinder head. I know teflon O-rings aren't normally stretched to fit in a groove, so didn't seem right, but the shaft appears to be 1-piece, so no other way. The hard plastic didn't feel like teflon.
2. The center bearing spacer (disk w/ radial slot) can be installed 2 ways. This puts the cylinder head "ferrule" on one side or the other in the final assembly. The FSM doesn't show, so I oriented as I think it was. Probably doesn't matter since just left or right, not up or down, and evern gravity probably wouldn't matter. You can tell from outside which way yours is since the ferrule fits into the thicker of 4 webs on the housing head. Mine is on the outside (driver's side). Maybe that should count in judging car shows.
3. Before staking the new nut, make sure you have the right torque. I didn't use the "string and spring scale" method mentioned in the FSM, but just spun the center spacer by hand. The friction changes greatly with the slightest tweak, and even from staking the nut, so careful feel is best.
4. The parts outside the staked nut install only one way, and fairly obvious. Use vaseline to hold the rings in the housing head as you slide it all in. That is probably the biggest FU people make.
5. The input shaft seal seems to stick out too much, so the lip partly rides on the recessed section. I beat the seal in as much as possible. Perhaps the body is too thick. I should have compared to the old one. Another case of "is the kit part exact?".
6. The output shaft seal seemed too tight against the needle bearing, even though no gap to the washer (against circlip). I hope it doesn't cause the bearing to bind. It was very hard to work the sector shaft spline step past this seal. I had to go around it w/ a small screwdriver from the outside, pushing the inner lip up. Perhaps rebuild shops have a cone to ease the shaft thru, or maybe my kit's seal wasn't quite right.
7. The kit was missing the thick, square O-ring under sector shaft adjustment nut. Fortunately, I had a square O-ring that worked (round one might also work). The rebuild kit had an aluminum tab (to lock adjusment?). It didn't seem to fit on my gear since my nut has an inner cone to squeeze in on the O-ring and fits in a recess in the dome, so I didn't use.
8. The kit didn't have an O-ring quite big enough for the large port on the valve body. I had to re-use the old one. Indeed, none of the rubber in my gearbox looked degraded, so the rebuild was probably uneeded.
9. Installing the gearbox was a b***. At this point, I had installed everything else, since holding off the pwr steering rebuild for a winter "dining table job", plus I recalled easily installing the gearbox in my 69 Slant Six decades ago. I should have thought about this "stuffed-in" V-8 in the early A's. Had to back-track and remove the mini-starter and jack up the engine. The FSM mentions such, but says to just slightly lift the engine. I had to lift >2" and scratched much paint before getting to that. The gear is so heavy, I strapped a rope to the valve body to hold it while maneuvering into place. The FSM says on a Slant, it can drop in from the top.
10. Had to loosen my motor mount and rotate down to get the stud in the slot. Perhaps because the mounts are new they want to sit at the very top of the slots and one can't get a wrench well on the left one (under the fold). Maybe my mounts aren't quite right. I bought DEA Products A2338, ~$10 ea on ebay, much less than ~$100/set I see people ask for used ones.
11. After rebuilding and painting my TRW pump, found I couldn't use it. The rebuild was simple and straightforward. I used a Harbor Freight "Pulley Puller" set, which fit perfect. I had switched to the later alum water pump to match the later radiator (passenger-side lower hose), not appreciating the implications. I don't think brackets were ever made for the TRW pump. Instead, I got a rebuilt Federal pump (looks similar) for ~$45 (rockauto), less than I sometimes see used pumps sell. I had to buy new brackets for $75 since all the "pump w/ brackets" I saw were missing the small triangular one that bolts to the lower block. The Federal pump clears the K-frame with only 0.5" to spare at the rear. I wonder how long before my new engine mounts sag that away. It wouldn't work with the thin later mounts I originally had on.
12. Remaining task is to find pulleys to align everything. I have 2 pulleys off Federal pumps and they are totally different. One is slighlty recessed and the other sticks way out, perhaps for a BB, though both had (partial) SB brackets installed. There seem to have been many combinations - cast or alum water pump, AC or non-AC, manual or pwr steering, and every possible combination of these. I don't care to try the pulley on my TRW pump since a pain to re-install - no threads to pull it on, must press or beat it on while supporting the back of the shaft (remove reservoir).
After working on a Slant Six and C-body, I better appreciate the effort the designers made to squeeze these V-8's into early Darts. No extra inches for leeway, and you must plan each job with military precision, similar to working on a Porsche. I hope my gear-box rebuild works because PIA to remove. Finally, I am in no way advertising and would never rebuild your gear-box, but am happy to give advice and ridicule.
View attachment piston and worm gear.jpg
View attachment final assembly.jpg
View attachment PICT0121.JPG
