'37 steering box oil seal

StillOutThere

A friend not on here needs an oil seal for his '37 Hudson steering box. Sources?
Anyone have a part number? The seal that is in there now doesn't even fit tight in the housing so is some incorrect replacement and he does not have an OEM part number.
Thanks.

StillOutThere

Help a Hudson, please.
Back to top.

Jon B

You are looking for the original Hudson part number? Or an interchange with something still made? I could look up the original number but have no idea what's being used nowadays. I simply fill my steering box with really heavy Model A oil, 600 W I think. That seems to cut down on leakage!

[Deleted User]

Still - I may be wrong, but I don't think the '37 takes a regular seal. If I remember right my "37 I had several years ago had a big felt washer and a flat washer held in place with a spring against the pitman arm on the steering shaft. Norm

Jon B

Just looked in the 1937 parts manual and I'm inclined to agree, Herm. The book lists the seal as follows:

#45246 -- cork seal
#45247 -- retainer
#45248 -- spring

If this is so, then the washer "seal" could simply be cut from a piece of cork (or felt?), assuming that the retainer (flat washer, I guess) and spring were re-usable. I'm not sure how much would have to be disassembled before the seal could be replaced, though. Anyway, the good news is that this appears not to be a special neoprene seal (which might not be manufactured anymore).

There may be other places from which the gear assembly leaks oil, however.

Incidentally, this seal supposedly fits 1937, 38 and 39 steering gear assemblies, but according to the master interchange manual, the gearbox itself was used only for 1937 (all models).

StillOutThere

Thanks guys. There was no way of knowing what was original with a later seal stuck in there that didn't fit at all and leaked.

bob ward

Thanks Jon, I have to delve into a 38 steering box before too long so that is good info.

Re the interchange manual, externally at least 37/8/9 steering boxes appear to be the same.

[Deleted User]

Bob -When you take your steering box apart, you could measure the bore (where the seal would fit) and the shaft size, maybe (there is a slight chance) that there is a modern seal that would fit. Norm

barrysweet52

My 37T had a thick cork round seal with the mentioned large flat washer and spring. To replace it just remove the pitman arm. I have to replace mine soon with a modern seal so I hope this thread continues with how to do. Barry

bob ward

I've had a look at my '38 steering box and has already been said the seal is a cork ring which is held in a stamped sheetmetal retainer, the whole being held in place by a spring.

Re dimensions, the pitman shaft is 1.125" dia, the boss it protrudes through is 1.625", the retainer is 1.5" ID x .2" deep and the cork seal is .25" thick.

A simple and elegant method of installing a modern seal rather than the cork/felt seal is not readily evident. One possibility would be to machine a rebate into the steering box boss and press a modern seal into it. Looking through seal listings there are quite a few that would fit into the available space, for instance I see one which is 1.125" x 1.375".

For myself I think I'll set the steering box up with an original style of seal and see how it goes.

Huddy42

Why invent the wheel, the cork seal has served it's purpose for this amount of time, so I think it should last you out Bob.

Geoff

Possibly a felt seal would be slightly more effective than the cork.

Jon B

Remind me what you're supposed to fill that steering box with -- oil, or grease? At the moment I have something like 600W oil that's used in Model A (or is it T) Fords....almost the viscosity of honey. I figured that it would leak less than the gear oil.

How difficult is it to "just remove the pitman arm", in order to replace the seal -- can it be done by an amateur using common household tools, without removing lots of stuff from the car? I don't think mine's been off the car in 75 years....

Is this generally the only place that the steering box would leak? Or are there other places, and are they easily re-gasketed?

[Deleted User]

I doubt that pitman arm will come off without a puller. A good part store will rent you one ,the gaskets on the box should be simple to make.
Roger

bob ward

Sometimes you can get lucky with the 2 hammer technique but generally a good puller is required.
I've just removed the pitman arm from this dead 38T (plug, I don't want the rest of the T) after it has been exposed to to the sun and rain for many a year. As well as using a good puller I also had to heat the boss with oxy and screw the puller really tight with a rattle gun.