My Willys 3A and 3B Community
3A, 3B, DJ Technical Knowledge Base => "Original"-- Technical Questions, Answers, Observations => Topic started by: DaveW on May 19, 2019, 06:52:09 PM
-
I'm sure like many others in the past tore my steering box down for a rebuild only to find the horn wire tube was broken. Since replacement tube are non-existent and I didn't want to rob one from a good steering box, I decided to make one.
I spent a few hours yesterday trying to figure out how to make the inside flare that acts as a stop for the freeze plug. I was considering finding a tube bead roller that was small enough to work with ~1/4" tubing, but felt that was a pretty limited use tool. After an hour or two of searching and looking at various bead rollers and flare tools, I found that such a thing exists as a GM fuel line flare die. Turns out that this would be almost perfect for the inside flare, unfortunately though they aren't made for 1/4" line, only 5/16" and 3/8". After a little measuring I found that a 5/16" line would easily still fit inside the worm shaft, so that was what I decided to do.
A quick order on Amazon for a Mastercool flaring tool (thank god for Amazon next day delivery!!!) and some 5/16" hard line from the local parts store, this is the process I used to make a new horn tube.
Here you can see the broken tube in the middle and another on top that I scavenged from another steering box.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2035%2003%20PM.jpg)
The first step was to cut the existing flare and fittings off the hard line I picked up at the store.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2035%2024%20PM.jpg)
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2036%2006%20PM.jpg)
The scavenged horn tube was about 8" long, but my broken one was a good bit shorter, so I went with the longer option.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2037%2022%20PM.jpg)
This tubing is pretty easy to cut and deburr with a normal pipe cutter.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2038%2037%20PM.jpg)
These are the dies used to make a GM fuel line flare. The die on the left holds the tubing and the right one squishes it all the flare it out.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2039%2001%20PM.jpg)
After a few trial runs, I found that the dies don't play well with the coating that's on the tubing. Thankfully it easily sands off.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2041%2010%20PM.jpg)
Line the tubing up with the end of the holding die.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2041%2032%20PM.jpg)
Get it loading in the hydraulic flaring tool.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2041%2055%20PM.jpg)
Load the other die and squish it.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2042%2028%20PM.jpg)
Darn near perfect.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2043%2049%20PM.jpg)
The existing hole in the freeze plug was a weird size and didn't fit the 5/16" tubing.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2044%2026%20PM.jpg)
I first tried opening it up to 19/64", but that was a bit too tight, so I went to 5/16"
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2047%2052%20PM.jpg)
The last step was to flare the end to keep the freeze plug on and seal it.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2048%2003%20PM.jpg)
The flaring tool isn't exactly designed to do this, but I found if I reversed the holding die, it made made the GM flare set against the die and allowed the use of the 45* flare to smash it.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2048%2019%20PM.jpg)
Here's the 45* die
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2049%2023%20PM.jpg)
I found that the original holding die that I tried to use was too tall to allow the 45* to be used, so as you can see I switched to one of the other holding dies in the kit.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2051%2033%20PM.jpg)
I'd say it came out pretty well.
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2053%2023%20PM.jpg)
(https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e398/unclemoak/Photo%20May%2019%201%2053%2028%20PM.jpg)
-
This is excellent work! Thanks for posting here too!