Originally Posted by the owl

Well, this is my first technical post so I will try to put this together in a way that should be pretty simple to follow;

Earlier today I tore apart an '87 Toyota IFS steering box from a 4Runner to start tapping the case for hydro assist stearing. Well, I was blessed with the opportunity to experience the frustration of many before me who have experienced the miss hap of pulling the worm gear from its piston and the 43 bearings (yes, I counted) snugged away inside pour out to their freedom. Thankfully I had the shaft pointed up and the bearing fell into its own housing.

**Just as a note, if you are seperating your steering box for hydro assist plumbing, you DO NOT have to pull the worm shaft out!! Once you've backed out the 10mm hex centering shaft cover, pull it out with channel locks if it doesn't want to come the rest of the way out, a spring will follow and behind that is the centering shaft which must come out or your piston won't slide out. This is where I screwed up and didn't realize the shaft was still in there, so I pulled the worm gear to see what was wrong and got myself in a pickle.**

So here are the puzzle pieces; Worm gear with spline shaft, Worm gear piston, and 43 bearings.



This tube acts as a channel that the bearings travel through while the piston rides up and down on the shaft. It has to be removed with a phillip's head screwdriver and it will come out rather easily and is split down the middle;





cont...

Originally Posted by the owl

Next, thread the shaft back into the piston until the threads start to appear at the at the lower port for the tube. You won't be able to get the bearings back in with the shaft all the way home as you need to work it in and let gravity help you a little bit to get the bearings settled in;



I used the tang end of a file to help push the bearings in and found that turning the shaft back n forth a little helped sit them in.

Make sure the bearings sit "down" into the shaft and don't ride up to the top of the piston or they'll start plopping out. And, don't let them ride down into the piston past the lower port or they will find their way into the bottom of the piston and you'll have to back the shaft out and start over!



Here you can see that there are as many bearings now in side that are going to fit. BUT, there are quite a few left over, exactly enough to fit inside the tube.





How am I going to get them to stay inside the tube with out them going all over when I pick it up to put it back in place on the piston...?

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Originally Posted by the owl

VASELINE!!

I didn't want to use gear lube cause I figured it would be too thick and maybe end up with a fluid flow issue. I'm guessing the vaseline is light enough that it'll liquify pretty quick and blend in with the power steering fluid pretty easily. And, I probably didn't have to use as much as I did either. Some at each end of the tube would have worked just as well. I tried this once without the vaseline and the bearings spilled uncontrollably and jammed up the ports so that I could not sink the tube so I had to fish the bearings out to try again;



After the tube is in place, put the strap over it and put the screws in. Test the travel of the shaft a couple of times and if it feels like it is riding well, tighten the screws the rest of the way. You cannot afford to have them backing out;



Easiest way I found to see if the bearings were sitting well was to let gravity do it's work. I pulled the shaft out some of the way (NOT TOO MUCH OR YOU"LL LOSE THE BEARINGS AGAIN) and just let the weight of it pull itself down onto the piston. If it rides down without binding or stalling you've completed the task;

http://yfrog.us/jpwormgearbearings011z

Yer back in buisness!!