Steering Relay Removal

[NRutterbush]

I'm seeking advice on the removal of my steering relay box, in the front chassis crossmember.

I thought some heat and hammer might remove it, but that turned out to be false.

Then, I had the brilliant idea of disassembling it, and building some sort of press to remove it.

DO NOT TRY THAT AT HOME. I am a gifted amateur, and thought that I did not need any fancified "directions". That resulted in an extremely angry spring launching the shaft out of the top of the box, denting my garage door, and spraying my neighbor and I with oil heated by the earlier heat and hammer method. Fortunately, we wound out the weekend without a hospital (or morgue) visit.

I now have the empty casting, firmly wedged in the chassis. All retaining bolts, including the ring bolted to the bottom, have been removed. By my count, the thing has been there for almost 50 years, but it is the last part to be removed prior to blasting and galvanizing the chassis, so I need it GONE.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks,

Nate
-61 88" Diesel
-63 88" Petrol
-I'll let you know when one is running!

[amcordo]

Is cutting the chasis apart an option? If so use a metal grinder. That's the most common method. I swear I've seen a post on here from someone who figured out some other method of removing it "easily".

[Andrew IIA]

Great Story :thumb-up:

[John O from Jersey]

I was in the same boat. Since you now have the guts out, you can easily make yourself a big honkin' puller. Get a long 1/2" bolt (like 12 inches). Find a big 1/2 or 3/4 inch drive socket that will support the bottom of the steering relay but still pass through the frame hole (think I used a 2 1/4" socket that was 3/4 drive). Pass the bolt through the hole in the socket and up through the steering relay so the socket is "lifting" the relay housing. I then passed the bolt through a hole in a heavvvvy chunk of steel above the frame and propped that up on two little steel blocks on either side of the relay. A couple washers and a big nut and you've got a puller. Then start cranking with a big cheater bar. The force it took was incredible.

Hope I described that OK. If not, I think I took a picture of it somewhere. That really was the only way that thing was coming out.

Oh - and not to state the obvious but hopefully this is preceded by a couple days of PB Blaster soaking.

John O

[thixon]

So you have the guts out of the relay? Can you get a recip saw blade through it enough to cut the relay from the inside out to release the tension and then pound it out? how about an air hammer and chisel? Also, have you tried hosing it down in penetrating oil and letting it sit overnight?

When you put the smoke wrench to it, did you use a rose bud, or just a small tip? Did you get the whole area glowing red?

I hate to say this, but a lot of people resort to cutting the frame to get it out.

Good luck.

[amcordo]

This guy makes it look easy. Looks like he's using a fancy pitman arm puller to do it.

A2OL9DXTPx0

[Shearpin]

I had some luck using a very small drill bit and drilling numerous holes around the relay housing from the bottom - after taking the mounting collar off of course. If the drill bit is the right size you should be able to get it between the relay and the frame without scoring the frame. Use the tube provided with your penetrating oil and shot it up into these holes. Lots of dirt and rust came out of mine and eventually I was able to get a bit of movement. Once you've got movement - you've won. I used a hammer and lots of penetrating oil and worked it up and down until it was free.

[rover_chump]

Greetings,

Here is my .02

Take a length of chain, drape a loop of chain around crossmember on each side of the relay.... place a flat piece of steel under the relay (suspended in the two loops of chain) then, place a bottle jack on the suspended plate. (thus, making a "home made" press that uses the chassis against itself so you can jack the relay up and out)

Good luck! :thumb-up:

Peace,
Art

[NRutterbush]

After all of my thinking about how to build my own press out of scrap metal, now I feel like an idiot. I have easy access to a giant gear puller like the one in the video, and have even been wanting to buy myself one.

Problem solved.

I was considering torching and trashing the relay casting, but something tells me I can put it back together... as long as no parts are embedded in the garage walls somewhere.

Sometimes I think I only have an old car collection to bolster my tool collection, although my wife sincerely believes it to be the other way round.

Thanks for all of the good ideas.

-Nate

[Tim Smith]

I wonder if you could just jack the truck up by the relay and give it a night to come loose under some penetrating oil? If the engine was already out, you'd probably have a harder time due to the lack of weight behind it all but it seems pretty low impact and might work.

[NRutterbush]

Yep...

I tried the 10-TON Proto 4292B puller kit yesterday. I managed to bend the chassis a little bit before the arms slipped off the welds at the tabs where the relay box bolts on.

Since I'm down to a bare chassis, I'm thinking that all of my options involving jacking, hanging, or vehicle weight are off the table.

I suspect that tonight is going to involve swearing and cutting the main casting out with an acetylene torch. I'll try building a press first, but I'm not holding out much hope, or patience.

Not long from now, I'll have a solution, because I'm tired of waiting.

To make matters more fun, it was about 118 degrees in the workspace next to my garage yesterday. When you need gloves to keep from burning yourself on your tools, everything becomes slightly more annoying.