Steering Box replacement in a 1971 VW Bay Window Bus

[peteandvanessa]

Just thought I'd try and document the removal and replacement of a steering box in a 1971 VW Bay Window Bus.

Now, here's the old steering box in place. This guy was allowing about 6-7 inches of steering play when measured around the circumference of the standard steering wheel.

Here you are looking at the Pitman arm on the steering box:

Here you can see the steering box to the left and the Pitman arm that we will need to remove. The Pitman arm is connected to the drag link. If you are just changing the steering box, you do not need to disconnect the drag link from the Pitman arm. You can just remove the Pitman arm with the drag link connected and let it pivot downwards.

This is the bad boy we intend to pull off the steering box in order to remove the box from the Bus:

Slacken the nut on the end of the Pitman arm, but don't remove it completely.

Now, I rented a heavy duty Pitman arm puller from Auto zone. I went for the heavy duty one, since I heard so many stories about how hard this task was going to be. The previous few days I sprayed WD40 all over the Pitman arm and all bolts, and let it soak in.

Here's the tool you want to rent:

It's about $90 to buy, so just buy it, use it for up to 90 days then return it and you get your money back (pretty sweet deal)

Here's the puller on the Pitman Arm with the screws all snugged up. The screws stop the puller arms from splaying and popping of the Pitman arm.

I then used a socket on the end of the puller to start to pull on the Pitman arm, I was using a 1/2 inch socket set about 18 inches long. I snugged it up and then went for it and pulled as hard as I could. The Pitman popped free pretty easily, with no problem. Here's a pic after the arm popped off:

If your Pitman arm doesn't pop off as easily as mine, get a cheater bar on your wrench and snug that puller nut up pretty tight and then whack it with a small 3lb hammer on the SIDE of the Pitman arm. Some say that the small whack will pop the arm free under tension from the puller. You might even have to try a little heat to break that Pitman arm free, just keep working it until it does.

There are four bolts that hold the steering box in place, two at the top and two at the bottom. Un-screw those four bolts and place them to one side.

Here's the new box (Top) and old box (Bottom), the re-built box was about $320 with an additional $250 core charge, so total cost was $550 (I'll get the $250 core charge back when I return the old box for a re-build)

I found it easier to fill the steering box with oil (they come re-built without the oil). It took about 10 ounces of oil to fill. I just popped off the plug on top of the steering box and then filled it with Valvoline 80W-90 gear oil.

While I was in there, I replaced the old coupler, the old coupler was starting to fall apart and there were no nyloc nuts, or cotter pins. A big no no in my book, so they got refreshed as well. You do not have to remove the steering wheel to replace the couple. You can just undo the four bolts that fasten the coupler to the top and bottom yokes. By doing that, you can get about a 1/2 inch of play and push the steering column up about 1/2 inch to remove the bolts, or just pull off the nuts to free the steering box.
Now mine had no nyloc nuts, or cotter pins. It did have the castlenuts on the bottom, but the bolt had no hole drilled in it for the cotter pins. So I removed the castlenuts and replaced them with automotive strength nuts with nyloc inserts.

I marked the shaft of the new box and matched it to the old box, I marked both the steering shaft and also the Pitman arm, so everything would re-align on re-assembly.

I also made sure that the steering box was centered before installation, I did this by counting the turns left from center and turns right from center. In fact the builder of the new box has made marks on the steering box, so it was obvious by looking at the center marks on the steering box and the Pitman arm. If you are unsure, then, you can feel the center position pretty easily by rotating the input to the steering box, it will get tighter towards the center position and looser as you rotate left or right. It's pretty obvious where the center is. The re-builder had already adjusted the box to remove the steering "slop" so I didn't need to adjust that at all.

A torqued down the Pitman arm nut to factory specs and inserted a new cotterpin.

All done, the play reduced to about 2 inches, the final play is down to the draglink bushings which will be replaced later. A new draglink, plus bushings is about $100.

All in all it took me 2 hours to replace the steering box and coupler, and about 30 mins of that was going to the local hardware store to get some nyloc nuts. I'd read and heard some stories of it taking 3-4 hours to get the Pitman arm off, but with the WD40 soaking and the heavy duty Pitman arm puller, I got the arm off in less than 10 mins. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe it was the right tool that helped, but changing out the coupler and steering box was pretty easy, and the working room under the Bus is fantastic, so no issues there. Didn't even need to jack it up at all to gain access.

Update:
We also pulled out the old drag link and replaced it with a new on. The whole draglink and the end bushings come as a set (I couldn't find a vendor who just supplied the end bushing, so bought the complete unit).
The steering play reduced from 2 inches to less than an inch. Now the Bus steering has improved dramatically. With the old worn set up, the Bus would track straight, but every now and then it would wonder and the driver would have to input a lot of steering movement to correct the wonder (up to 8 inches)

Now it's like a new Bus, very, very little play and it tracks straight on the freeway. So the solution for me, was to replace the Steering box ($300 fix) and also replace the drag link and drag link bushings ($100 fix).

Pretty happy with how it turned out.
_________________
My 1974 Standard Build Thread:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=568220&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

My Son's 1971 Bay Window Westie Build Thread:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7295189#7295189

[guanella74]

Great writeup. Where'd you buy the box?
_________________
- Travis

1974 Westy CampMobile - the OG!
1979 Transporter
1979 Transporter
1977 Transporter
1974 Transporter
1973 Transporter
1971 Westy

[peteandvanessa]

[CarlosZ]

Very informative. I just bought a 72 and have been trying to figure out how to drain the steering box oil. Oil came out when I removed the adjustment screw. I loosened the four plate screws on the bottom but nothing comes out. Should the plate be removed? I was assuming something would come out as it came out of the adj screw which is higher up. I've searched but haven't found anything. I resorted to filling the box for now. I read it takes 10 oz, I was only able to add 1.5 oz. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[SGKent]

someone may have put grease in it instead of gear lube.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Tcash]

Oil came out when I removed the adjustment screw.
You should not have done this. The adjustment procedure in the Bentley is very detailed.
This is a roadside adjustment procedure at best.
Steering Box Adjustment Technique

Note in this pic hard to see but there is an Oring on the end cap with 4 bolts. You would need to pull the cap out past this Oring to drain the fluid. If you take it off do not loose any of the shims.

TGIF
Tcash

[pierrox]

Great write up, thanks!
Didn't know about bus-boys, are those fully refurbished boxes? I was under the impression that some of the parts are definitely unavailable - was actually considering converting to a late bay box. That would make for an easier operation at a similar price.
I saw on their page that they rent a tool for installing a new pivot, did you do that too?
_________________
Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[Lil Lulu]

So - what yer sayin' skills, is that maybe nobody rebuilds early boxes except for maybe someone crazy as you who'll take the time to do it right?

Are we heading slowly to that point at which the common reply to parts inquiries is "you can't get there from here"?
_________________
'65 Beetle "Lil' Lulu"- Ruby Red
1600 stock from '71 bus

'72 Deluxe - Niagara Blue w/pastelwiess Camper Special 2L dual 40 Webers 002

'74 Hightop Weekender "Dixie" 1800 34 Del singles

[SGKent]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[pvlocal]

Great write-up, I'm about to do the same on my '70 Bus.

A knowledgeable Bus guy told me to fill the steering box with standard molybdenum grease instead of the 90w gear oil normally used in these things. He contended this would not leak while providing the same lubrication to the gears.

Anyone tried this?

[pierrox]

Several knowledgeable VW people told me it's a classic mistake... the grease ends up being pushed to the side and the cogs are left dry.
If VW put oil, it's for a reason, grease existed then.

Having said that, there are thicker oils these days that can work better than gearbox oil, and won't leak.
_________________
Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[pvlocal]

"Having said that, there are thicker oils these days that can work better than gearbox oil, and won't leak."

Thanks, pierrox. I tend to agree that if VW engineers did it a certain way in 1970, I should probably do the same, in most cases.

Any more info you can provide on those more modern gear oils that might perform better than the old stuff? Brand name, SAE specs, availability?

[alman72]

seem to remember a tread that talked about mixing oil and grease....

[pierrox]

When I don't drive my bus, I ride a bike with a geared hub. There's a famous swiss builder of those who uses a special grease, I got some from him. It's a strange product: when in movement, it's rather fluid, and when it's not, it sort of solidifies. It's an amazing material.

It's called Shell Alvania Grease 0974 (formerly Alvania Grease GL 00). "Alvania Grease 0974 is a semi-fluid grease, which is used primarily in gear, drives calling for a semi-fluid grease. These gear drives are not well sealed and a conventional gearbox oil would leak out."

The primary use is for cranes and car lifts, where cogs don't spin fast but under pressure. The fact that it becomes more liquid under movement means it would never be pushed out of the gears inside the steering box. And it's pretty thick, so it wouldn't run out of the sbox.

The main problem is to get hold of some, it's usually sold in industrial quantities!
_________________
Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[1970fun]

Millers oils has a special oil for old steering boxes.

http://www.millersoils.co.uk/automotive/tds-automotive.asp?prodsegmentID=153&sector=Classics

[ROCKOROD71]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=660446
that is a thread about rebuilding type 1/3 steering boxes. On one of the last pages there is some discussion on using "corn head grease" used for tractors. Seems depending on ambient temperatures where one lives this could be a viable option over standard gear oil.
_________________
1971 STD BEETLE- DD-1st car, 1st love. keepin' it stock! 1600DP, Solex 34-3 Mexi Bosch SVDA Dist NOW w/POINTS
1977 WESTY "KrustyKamper" 2L FI

[Tcash]

http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products.php?id_categ=14&id_products=90

[JLT]