The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Proper Placement of Sector Bushings

I have a 1946 Chevy 1/2 ton steering box I am rebuilding. I see the new bushings have a weep hold in the middle of them, but did not notice the positioning of the weep hole in relation to the gear box before I removed the old bushings. I assume the weep hole is at the bottom or 6 o'clock position of the sector. Can anyone confirm this? I have checked the manual and other threads on this site and others without anything mentioned of the location of the weep hole. Thanks in advance!

Not sure if my '51 steering box is the same, but the bushing toward the pitman arm has two diagonal grooves, and no weep hole. I assume the grooves are for grease distribution. I didn't check the bushing in the inside cover.

I don't believe it makes any difference, I am betting they are off the shelf bushings made to fit and the hole was for some other application. Check in the bore of the housing, if there is no corresponding hole, place the hole where you think it will do the most good. I don't remember anything odd about mine when I rebuilt it. When I rebuilt my '37 gear box, I used a Dremel tool with round cutter and cut a groove down the bushing to let grease flow out to the end, not sure it made any difference, but I felt like it should have.

Joe

I couldn't see the weep holes until the bushing was removed and it was evident from the outside of the bushing. Unable to see the weep hole from the inside unless you use a probe in the middle of the bushing aligned w/ the diagonal groove. It is just on one diagonal groove and not the other. The cover bushing has one as well and all bushings have a groove for oil channeling. I see no holes in the housing. I didn't realize there was a weep hole in the old bushings until they removed. Not sure if it makes any difference anyway as Joe said because they were caked full of old grime. Thanks both for input. If anyone else has a different opinion please let me know, but plan to install this afternoon.

Thank you for your replies,

Bill

I'll have to go back and look at mine again. If there's no hole in the housing for oil/grease supply, then it definitely won't matter where the weep hole is. Like Joe said, they're probably multi-application bushings, and if used in another application may need to be installed with the hole lined up with an oil supply gallery port.

If you are worried about, just do like I did and take a Dremel tool and grind out a groove along the bottom, just deep enough for grease/oil to work it's way out to the end. .050" or so deep would be enough. The torque loads are on the sides of the bushing, so groove the bottom or top and it will work it's way around.