Steering Boxes: VW vs. TRW; VW Teardown & Rebuild

[Fuchs915]

Great work Tim, I have just stripped mine down for my 72 Beetle and found this thread very helpful. A couple of questions:

What's the best way to remove the bearing race next to the thin shim, without damaging the shim?

Do you ship your rebuild kits to UK?

Cheers

Kevin

[OKType3Tim]

Kevin,

From earlier in the thread (about halfway down on page 9):

[Fuchs915]

Thanks Tim, 17mm socket did the trick. Sent you a note through the ad.

Cheers

Kevin

[heimlich]

TRW has some good boxes out again if you measure it by the amount of play. My supplier checked their supply and found one with zero play and shipped it to me. It so nice not to have 5 inches of play in the steering wheel.

An interesting note, on the outside of the TRW box was an emblem of VW and audio that had been slightly ground down. I am wondering if that shipment was meant for VW/Audi.

[heimlich]

Here's a picture of the emblem on the TRW box.

[raygreenwood]

Actually....I am betting that its simply a rebuild by TRW using VW castings. Ray

[heimlich]

[OKType3Tim]

[heimlich]

The one I bought was very tight. I could barely turn it with my fingers. I have to grab it with my entire hand. Everything else seems spot on. If all else, I'll drive it till it fails and maybe I can use it to rebuild an original.

[Zundfolge1432]

Please stay on topic.

[heimlich]

Hey Larry!

Was that bit meant for me?

[heimlich]

Hey Larry, or Curly if you prefer, I looked over the thread again that I read 3 months ago. You're right. It does show that TRW has VW and Audi stamped on their components. Go figure.

AP is aircraft mechanic? Do you still work on planes? I was supposed to buy a 66 Beetle today from an Aircraft mechanic. He sold it before I could get over there.

[alikatcraig]

Are the TRW and VW worm shafts completely interchangeable without issues? From what I have read here I am guessing yes. The reason I ask is I have some pitting on the VW shaft bearing surfaces, and the other option is to machine it off and shim. I can get NOS TRW worm gears quite cheaply though.
_________________
1967 Ghia
1971 Deluxe Microbus
1974 Convertible Bug
1973 Standard Bug
1998 Mexican Bug

[heimlich]

[alikatcraig]

TRW
_________________
1967 Ghia
1971 Deluxe Microbus
1974 Convertible Bug
1973 Standard Bug
1998 Mexican Bug

[OKType3Tim]

[OKType3Tim]

[heimlich]

Interesting you brought that up. I noticed that earlier. TRW and Sachs are owned by the same company.

[alikatcraig]

So I looked at the worm shaft from the worn box, and it had pitting on the bearing surfaces, worse on the middle one. As the shaft is very hard, I talked with the guys at work and we ground the end bearing surface whilst doing another job. The middle one will be done next when we break the set-up. My question is, I am assuming the 80+ RWC hardness figure to not just be surface hardness. Do I sacrifice a shaft to test this opinion? Rather than scrapping otherwise good shafts is this something that can be done in batches and the shafts returned to use with appropriate shimming? Perhaps Tim can comment? Pitting on the rest of the shaft can also be ground down, hard chromed, and finish ground to size. It might not be something people want to consider doing now, but in the not too distant future there may be no more TRW boxes, and then where will we be? I have a new shaft on the way to replace it anyway, so this is my test piece.

BEFORE

AFTER
_________________
1967 Ghia
1971 Deluxe Microbus
1974 Convertible Bug
1973 Standard Bug
1998 Mexican Bug

[OKType3Tim]

A few thoughts:

Reworking this end isn't to bad since you will be able to take up the change in length by screwing in the big adjuster nut.

Reworking the bearing surface in the middle of the shaft will be harder to deal with. I've seen that same pitting, and you are going to remove a good bit of material to get rid of that pitting. That will have to be made up with a more shim thickness than normal. I.E. You will probably have to stack them. Doable, but just a thought.