Eval the two new Brazilian Steering Box Manufacturers-MFG A

[OKType3Tim]

6 months ago, I was asked to disassemble a unit from one of the two Brazilian manufacturers of steering boxes. I.E. a unit that replaces VW part # 113.415.061. Original Top Covers labeled 311.415.131, ..131A, ..131B.
A unit that is supposed to fill the gap since TRW stopped production of this part. I will call this MFG A. The evaluation of MFG B and components will be in a separate post.

Disclaimer/background: I don't have a financial investment or ownership in either of the two new products. My interest is in having a quality steering box for myself and fellow VW enthusiasts to use in keeping our vehicles safely on the road. It started because I had a problem with my own endeavor:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=659460&highlight=
Which lead to me to figure out bearings, seals, gaskets, shims, replacement worms shafts, replacement roller shafts, top cover bushing replacement, and assembly techniques:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=660446&highlight=

To solve my own needs for a handful of working steering boxes, I put together 100 refurbishments kits. I had 100 sets of shims manufactured, 100 gaskets made. I had the kits ready in January 2017. Purchasing 100 units of anything can get you a little bit of a discount; but not a lot. I wasn't, and I'm not, interested in creating a VW steering box parts business. I marked the kits up enough to reassure my soul that I wasn't being completely stupid to take some retirement funds and purchase a pile of parts. The kits were consumed 3 years later. [<grin> so much for reassuring my soul that I was making a wise investment.]

Along the way, it turned out that not everyone was as enthusiastic about rebuilding their own steering box. So, on a very limited basis I would rebuild a steering box for someone. And then later I rebuilt brand new TRW boxes to my working standard for those that ask. This was all word off mouth; I didn't advertise, I'm not trying to create a VW steering box rebuilding company. [I'm retired and I have so much stuff going that I don't how I ever had time to go to work.]

With the kits gone, Marcel at VWNOS stepped in to fill the gap. He asked, and I provided what I knew about bearings, seals, gaskets, and shims. He sourced more bearings, and seals.

Then TRW really did stop producing steering boxes. A Brazilian vendor stepped in to fill the gap. 6 months ago Marcel ask me to evaluate one of their units. Note: there are several VW parts houses reselling this unit.

I'm not going to name the manufacturer, and spoiler alert, this is not going to be a positive review.
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Here we go:

A couple items help identify this manufacturer. First, there is a warning tag attached to the top adjusting screw lock nut using a zip tie. The translated warning says, “Violating the seal implies the immediate loss of the warranty!” and “Attention! not violate the seal”.

Second, the plastic plugs in the two top grease filling holes are of a slightly different design, with a single molded retaining ring. Adequate, but different. Original VW style has a double flange retaining design.

All traces of VW, Audi, and TRW have been removed.

When I went to mount the unit on my alignment/work fixture, something just wasn’t correct. I needed longer bolts since the mounting holes/threads are counter sunk.

And then it still just didn’t seem right.
Something about the machining of the mounting pocket, in conjunction with the shaft alignments is off. I cannot get the alignment tool to properly fit this unit.

The main machining of the main casting is off!

The worm/steering shaft is oversized. It will cause some concern from end-users at installation time.

I really hammered hard to get the flange correctly seated onto the shaft. I had to hammer harder than I wanted to get this flange off when I completed the tear down.
There was no mark on the shaft to indicate the center point.

The big adjusting nut was so over tightened that the ball bearings had locked themselves against each other. When this happens, you turn the shaft and the balls between each end of the shaft “drop” into opposing empty slots. The shaft doesn’t turn smoothly; it is clunk, clunk, clunk, etc.
Next step was to remove the big lock nut, but it is oversized. The standard tool will not fit.

When the big adjusting screw was removed, I found the bearing to be partially dry.

Then I removed the top cover. (Overtightened split style lock washers damage the aluminum.)

The gasket is firmly attached to the cop cover, but no attachment/sealant to the main housing. [Note, I use Gasgacinch on both surfaces when I do a rebuild.]
The unit was completely filled with a grease, which, from my experience, I think is CV joint grease. In any case it is a grease that needs some velocity to move it about. I.E. it definitely is not thixotropic. There isn’t any velocity on the ball bearings in a steering box, thus the lower bearing was only partially filled with grease when I disassembled.

The top adjusting screw was only marginally lubricated.

Then I tapped out the upper bearing. What the ___?
What are all these shims for? Well, the bearing race pocket is machined way, way, way too deep and they had to recover.
SO…, the complete answer is that the machining of the main casting body was completely screwed, but they were willing to rig it and send it out the door.

The lower bushing is a pressed bushing and interestingly, they machined a spiral groove to let grease get into the bushing/shaft interface. (But, the grease isn't thixotropic, so I don't know if it is going to flow down that groove.)

The upper bushing in the top cover is a split ring bushing.

Note the logo on the inside of the cover.

After cleaning up all the parts, some additional observations.
Look at all those shims.
Seals are double lip design but of lower quality than what I use/recommend.

You can see that the hole for the worm shaft is not properly centered/located on the casting. More evidence of the poor machining. This is also going to affect the ability to line up the steering column with the steering box input/worm shaft.

Roller Shaft: Examining the roller shaft, poor quality! A decision to “weld” the needle bearing in place. The roller has a loose spot and a tight spot. Possibly, a result of the welding heat distortion.

And compare the roller to an original. Very “blocky/boxy/unfinished” looking. Note the damage to the roller from just the few turns I put on it prior to opening the unit. Why did they have to grind off the corners of the casting?

Worm Shaft: Comparing this unit to an original, it almost looks like a different design. Squared off.

See that shiny spot at the red arrow? That is where the ball bearing is riding. It should be riding (and creating a shiny spot) down in the center of the race, where the green arrow is. So, the race has not been machined properly.

Ball Bearings: This unit uses worm shaft ball bearings that have 11 balls per bearing. Just as the TRW did. The balls fitment into the plastic cage was very loose. I had to be extremely careful not to lose any of the ball bearings. The design of the plastic cage is the same as the TRW unit.
But the fact remains that the OE FAG bearing uses 13 balls in a metal cage. And those additional 2 balls make the unit smoother and easier to adjust the preload.
I don’t have a way to test the harness/quality of the individual balls. I do know that there are different levels of ball bearing quality that can be specified.

Bottom line: A piece of Junk. Only slightly better than the Chinese unit that I evaluated a few years ago in my thread on TheSamba. (Listed at the start of this post.)

I didn't bother to try and reassemble this unit.

As always with my posts, reasonable comments and observations are welcome. My impression of this unit is so negative that I had been reluctant to even post this.

But, there is now better news to report (in the next post).
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'69 Squareback restoration
'69 Fastback restoration
'66 Type34

[RedSquare]

Thank you for your original work and posts on the rebuild of these a while back, and for this new product evaluation. Work like this from folks like you helps people like me keep these old cars in running order, and it is greatly appreciated.

Especially so, since my steering box is now leaking and needs attention!

[Clatter]

Thanks so much for taking care of us Tim.

Without your help, we could have purchased one of these, and again had our time/money wasted by yet another substandard part.

Much appreciated.
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[nynone4]

Wow - thanks Tim! I was just looking into steering box replacement down the road for my own square back. Appreciate your evaluation of these parts.
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>>Looking for any and all Vic Williams, Peoria Illinois dealership items.<<

[KTPhil]

Any hints on identifying the junk designs using just external appearance, so they can be avoided?

[Multi69s]

Great right up Tim,

Do you have a suggestion on which brand a person should buy?
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69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
AC in Squareback https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

[mykidsbug]

I just saw a Box made by Airkewld. Do you or anyone have any information on the Airkewld Steering Box? Honestly, I haven’t heard anything bad about Airkewld aftermarket parts. It’s a little bit expensive but, not to have that 2in - 3in gap would be nice.

No, I haven’t attempted to fix or tighten it up… Don’t judge me 😁