The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline How many ball bearings in a 53 3100 steering box

I'm working on my ball nut in my 53 3100 steering box. As far as I know it has never been worked on before. I took it apart a while ago when I rebuilt the box but just cleaned them and put them back in. I have owned the truck for 45 years. After taking it apart there are 49 balls in it. I have a pack of 50 from McMaster Carr. From what I read on the internet there are supposed to be 30. That is quite a difference. wouldn't you want it full? Thank you for your time.

49? Shoot...I think there are 60 balls in the 1/2 ton steering box. 2 circuits of 30 balls each, that is. Somewhere I have a genuine GM document on rebuilding it. Let me know if you want me to hunt it down for you.

Here you are. Two groups of 30 each. Hope it helps.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/albums/72157632210242370/with/8258916770

I had to go check. The new bag has 100 balls in it so I'm fine. Maybe I lost some of them when I cleaned it up many moons ago. It was never on the road after that. These balls were in a box with a horn button, upper bearing, and related parts. Maybe I bought them then and never put them in. I think spec calls out for a .280 ball. I measured the old balls at .280-.281 and the new balls at a consistent .281 and round. the old balls ran about .0005 out of round. I didn't get the mic's out and just used a decent set of digital calipers. I measured a consistent .005 of play in the ball nut in all directions before I took it apart. I'm going to put the new balls in and see what I come up with. Those 11 missing balls could be important at 165 MPH. Thank you for your help.

Great, Mick. You'll have plenty of balls and I imagine there will be no problem at all with the measurements. Please let us all know how you enjoy traveling at 165 MPH in your AD truck. You might take some extra underwear.

I'll be wearing Kevlar underwear but spares aren't a bad idea. Thanks for the link. I didn't realize the importance of the less than .002" clearance in the adjustment bolt in the sector gear. It makes sense when you think about it. I will have to check that. When I made my new bolt I didn't think about it so I probably need to make a shim.

Good plan. Good luck with it. We'll be watching for you on the evening news.

Thanks again for that link. I was about to really mess up. It calls for no more than .002" lash in the adjuster bolt. The importance of this makes sense now but never crossed my mind. I put the old bolt and shim in and was able to get a .006" feeler gauge behind it. I put the new bolt I spent so long making in and it .012 feeler gauge slid right in. Luckily I didn't put the really nice ARP washer on the bolt when I made it. I didn't realize the old one had a shim I just thought it was a washer. I also stoned the slot to get some small ridges out of it. I put the washer on and took another .065" off the head of the bolt and it fits perfectly. It moves freely but I can't measure the lash with the tools I have. A .002" feeler gauge won't even think about going in. The ball nut had about .005" play in it when I started. I polished the worm gear on the steering shaft and put the new balls in it. It maybe has .005"-.001" play in it without oil. I don't have the setup to measure that small accurately. Maybe this post will help someone down the line. You rule Jon.

Here is a suggestion for thin shim material on the cheap: a soda pop, beer or any other typical aluminum drink can is made of .004" coated aluminum. You can make one flat by pulling it over a counter top against the formed curve a couple of times. You also can use 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to sand off the coating on both sides and reduce the thickness to somewhere between .002" and .003". Just use a sanding block or piece of wood and sand wet to be sure you reduce the thickness evenly. And also, I bought a feeler gauge set at Auto Zone a couple of months ago which had around 15~16 blades and the thinnest was .0015". It cost me $6 with tax and it dawned on me if I ever needed a really thin piece of metal to use as a small shim this might be a good source.

Thanks for the tip Jon. I have a few feeler gauges of different designs. Most of them go down to .005". I have one set that goes down to .002". You have to be really careful with the really thin ones.

Yes...a poor substitute for dental floss, I'm told. Also...common Reynolds Wrap (not the heavy duty stuff but just the regular foil) is between .0005~.0007." The foil sticky tape used by HVAC guys is more like .006" and it is likely the heavy duty foil is close to this, too. Maybe closer to .005" without the adhesive.