# steering arm Ford 3000 won't go back on completely



## duke7595 (Jan 23, 2012)

I have a ford 3000 p/s I replaced the oil seal because it was leaking I had to remove
the steering arm to get to the seal.
The steering arm was very difficult to remove, to the very end. I heated the arm and My son used a pry bar for tension while I struck it with a bar and hand sledge hammer. 

We finally got it off, we replaced the seal and felt seal dust covers, lined it up
correctly and proceeded to place it back on.

Well we are about 3/4 of an inch short of where it should be, we used the nut and washer to press it on to this point, until the nut finally stripped. I don't want to force
it on with a sledge hammer ect. . I just rebuilt the upper and lower unit of the p/s
unit and I'm a little scared to hammer on it .

Anyone have an idea how to get this monster back in place, I sure would appreciate it..

Thank you, P.S. THERE IS A DIAGRAM OF THE P/S UNIT #60 IS THE ARM


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## BelarusBulldog (Feb 19, 2011)

Can you carefully heat the arm up with a torch? Start heating from about the middle and work your way up the arm. As you're doing this, have someone trying to keep turning the nut to press on.


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## herdsman (Jun 7, 2012)

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious here, but I think it's clear that in removing the arm you did some damage to the arm or the shaft. I would pull the arm back off and examine the shaft and the arm - you may be able to see where it's binding by seeing areas where the metal of one or the other has been gouged clean? If that doesn't show the area that is binding, then clean them both up very well, and apply a real light coat of spray paint. Reassemble until they just start to bind, then disassemble and look for where the paint is scraped off. 

One other thought which I *don't* think is the case, but I'll throw it out anyway - make sure the spines on the arm/shaft aren't keyed so that they only assemble in one position.

Good luck...


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## duke7595 (Jan 23, 2012)

Thank you for your input , both of you give good advice. 
The reason I am so afraid to aggresively attack this arm with a sledge hammer is that when I rebuilt this unit it was a nightmare. Refer to #30 the block valve, when I removed this part ball bearings and springs
fell out all over my floor. To make it worse their is a sequence to placing the balls and springs in a certain order, if not it don't work. Below this part is a seal that was leaking. 
I replaced all the seals and put in a sleeve on the steering shaft and a bunch of other new parts.
This is the reason I'm gun shy. 

If anyone ever needs information on how to replace the balls and springs let me know and I will help
with the proper sequence,. All I can say this is not one of Fords better Ideas.

I will let you guy's know what happens, again thanks for your help.

Duke


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