Good morning all - replacing my stearing gears at the steering wheel box. Got new set and noticed on the three 'orbital' gears one side of each of the three gears has a bevel at the pin hole. QUESTION: Bevel go UP or DOWN in the box? Thanks

All the photos in the encyclopedia show no bevel, so it must go on the bottom. The side with the number stamped on it goes up so the number shows.

No idea what Snyders sent me but one things for sure - it doesn't fit. Ordered a T-3517-AS and noticed the center gear drive is almost twice the size of the one in there now - Snyder's had 12 teeth on their center gear. Also the pin not even close to fitting into the gear box in the car - any ideas?? Only thin I can think of is they sent the'ASO' (oversized) instead of the original - but, still that wouldn't explain the difference of the larger center drive gear - thanks for any input -

Ford made two different gear ratios for the steering gear. '09-'24 used 4:1, '25-'27 used 5:1. They all work in the same gear case, but you need to have the steering shaft and all of the gears matching. It sounds like you've received 5:1 gears and are finding that they won't fit your shaft correctly. All original 5:1 gears and shafts have the number "5" stamped on them.

Don

here is the difference shown in the Service Manual



and the new hardened black gears by the vendors may need some lapping to get good function, valve paste or Timesaver compound can be used.



I put the planet gears with the bevel up to capture grease that will flow down along the pinion shafts. Probably doesn't matter which way the gears are placed, bevel up or down, just so they spin good together and you have added grease to the case

I'll go with Dan on that one.

While we're on this, the 4:1 gears are shown in Mac's and Snyder's catalogues for 09-25, but Lang's lists them for just 19-24. Anybody know why they wouldn't be OK for pre-19 cars?

Well . . Looks like I musta' put the 'new' gears in when I put ol' Henrietta together - so, does that mean the steering column is also different sizes where the center pin goes in to the shaft??

I just had some 'slop' in the steering wheel and after all of the past few weeks posts - figure it was time to tightewn up the 'play' . . . funny - can remember back in the 50's / 60's some of my old cars had what seemed like a full revolution from one end to the other before any steering really started!!

Dan - as always thanks for the pictures . . .

Best to you in JAX stay warm - Don

Don,
Dan's got it. Perhaps somebody updates your column to the 5:1 gears already. Look for a 5 stamped on the end of the shaft, between the gear pins.

Steve,
The changed to 5:1was a running change made late in '24. The pin spacing on the steering shaft is different for each gear ratio. You can update your old column to 5:1 gears, but you need the complete set; shaft, planet gears and pinion. Ford warned in their manual, that the steering could bind if a mix was used. I update all of my cars to the 5:1 gears as I feel it makes the steering a bit safer. All that is required, is swapping out the needed parts from a good '26 column. These can usually be found from $50-$75.

What's the advantage of changing to 5:1 gears? My 13 has 4:1, should I consider changing?

Probably not worth the effort on early cars.

The 5:1 came out for the 21" balloon fat tires for more leverage.

That said, if you are after the latest improved steering, get a late column with the long pinion for the groove in the bottom of the case to prevent over-turning of the front wheels and then have the 5:1 ratio too. The early cars don't have that lock feature of the later steering cases.