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Thread: Steering Relay Rebuild Guide

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    150

    Default Steering Relay Rebuild Guide

    Recently I disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the steering relay in my ’69 SIIa. I figured I’d post how I went about doing so. Don’t consider this a How-To, maybe just a guide. You could do things differently if you wanted to.

    ---First, I removed the relay from the chassis. The relay can be rebuilt in place, but if it isn’t seized in place it’ll probably be easier to do this job with it removed. There are multiple ways of removing it so I won’t get into that. I’ll only say I was able to remove mine by using a jack under the relay. YMMV.




    ---The end caps are removed by removing the four screws on each cap. At this point the innards won’t explode so don’t worry too much. Just don’t go pointing it at your face – once out of the line of fire, stay out of the line of fire. Accidents do happen. You are wearing eye protection, aren’t you?


    ---Place the relay inside something like a pillow case. Go to town banging on the end of the relay shaft. This will keep everything in one place instead of the contents exploding all over your garage like a party popper.

    Once the excitement is over, this is what you’ll end up with.




    ---Clean everything and inspect for excess wear. Check the relay shaft races that the oil seals ride on for wear. Hopefully the races are good because that shaft is half the cost of a new relay.

    Don’t forget to clean up the housing so it looks purdy. No one will ever see anything other than the end caps once its reinstalled, but that’s not the point.



    ---Replace the oil seals in the end caps. Don’t forget a smear of Hylomar around the edge of the seals before seating them in the caps.




    ---This is where things get interesting. You’ve got to find a way to compress the spring for reinstallation. There is a factory tool that is dang near impossible to find (but I’ve seen handy folk make them) or you can come up with your own jerry rigged method. I used a truck bed bolt and clip along with some homemade compressed spring holders and spacers. These were made out of flat stock steel. The spacing between the tangs is 60mm. You’ll have to notch the tangs so the relay shaft will slide into the spring while these are attached (you’ll see what I mean from the pictures).





    Last edited by cnfowler; 05-10-2018 at 11:49 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    150

    Default

    ---This is what it would look like assembled. The only thing missing is the spring. It would go in the middle between the two spacers.



    ---And with the spring.




    ---Compress the spring until you can get the compressed spring holders in place. This is why you need the spacers – so you’ll have room to slide the holders in place. Use hose clamps to hold them in place.




    ---Now remove the bolt. This is what you’re left with.






    ---Slide the relay shaft through the spring.



    ---Place the steel washer on each end of the spring, then fit the bushings. Hold them in place with hose clamps. Once the compressed spring holders are removed, the hose clamps and bushings are the only thing holding the spring in place. Be careful.




    ---If your hose clamps held and you didn’t poo your britches, you should have something that looks like this.




    ---At this point I either got excited because I survived thus far or I got scared and feared the hose clamps wouldn’t hold forever; I don’t remember. Either way I forgot to take a picture of the next step so I stole this one from another forum. Sorry.

    I placed the housing on a 2x4 with a hole in it so the relay shaft can pass though. Take the assembly and insert it into the housing from the bottom. Tap it until the bushing is in the housing and the hose clamp prevents it from going any further. The hose clamp can be removed. Continue to drive the relay shaft until the other bushing is in the housing. Remove that hose clamp. The relay shaft should be centered in the housing.




    ---Install a new gasket with a smear of Hylomar. Install the thrust washer in the bottom of the housing. I smeared a bit of grease on the new oil seal before buttoning up the bottom end cap.

    ---Before putting the thrust washer on top, I filled the relay with EP90. This was super easy as it just flowed right past the bushings.



    Once filled, install the thrust washer, the gasket, then the end cap. Job well done.






    Colin
    Last edited by cnfowler; 05-10-2018 at 11:51 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    South Central Kansas USA
    Posts
    31

    Default

    Colin - Do you still have the photos that went with this?
    Cheers!
    Larry

    1963 IIa 88 Station Wagon

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    150

    Default

    Larry, I do. The photo host I used has moved the photos to a different domain due to some technical issues. I'll update the post with the current photos. Sorry about that.


    Colin

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