Howdy, I just joined. This is a great message board. I have a 1970 maverick with manual steering. A mechanic told me the steering gearbox needs replaced. This is my daughters car so I haven't driven it lately so I'm not sure what its doing, but if I need to get the gearbox rebuilt is it something I can remove fairly easy. Are there any parts that I would need a puller or special tools for? Any help would be appreciated. He wants about $450 to do the work. Thanks, Craig
welcome to the board, if you get the box out about $250 would be a good price to have it rebuilt...frank...
Find a Maverick or Comet in a junkyard with powersteering and get that box. Because of the power assist, the boxes seldom wear out. Plus its a quicker ratio.
I would get a second opinion as to where all the slop is in the steering first before pulling the gear box. 95% of all problems that I have seen are from worn steering components other than the gear box. They do fail too, so if it is bad, follow what the others have said, it is easy to replace. Find a boneyard box from any year that is in good shape - all years are interchangable. Oh, and to the board! Eric J
If you can get it off....this place will rebuild it. They rebuild all steeing components and do a real nice job. Rodes Restorations: http://www.bright.net/~rodes/
I agree with Acornridgeman........I'll bet if you get a second opinion you'll find that you need some other front end work...ie sway bar bushings,,,ect. ray
I rebuilt my own manual gearbox last summer - it was simple. Bearing shops can get what you need (bearings and seals). As far as the upper seal goes (the rubber seal) - I had to order from a gearbox shop up north somewhere (but the were cheap). Just an idea if you're trying to save money.
would you want to do a tech. page on how to rebuild a gear box? i took one apart and have a hand full of ball bearings left over... ...frank...
DANG IT! Sorry Frank, I wish I would have thought to take pictures during the process. I would have written a tech page! If you opened yours up to find a bunch of ball bearings then the lower/upper ball bearing assemblies were toast. I had to replace the same bearings on mine. The only other bearings are rollers on the pitman shaft. A friend of mine has a Maverick manual gearbox he wants to rebuild. I'll try to remember to take some pictures during the process. I think you guys will be impressed with how easy it is to break down, reassemble, and adjust the box.
will be looking for the tech page. i have a gear box laying on the floor (wore slam out). looks like it might need a worm gear...frank...
