Rebuilt Steering Quadrant - How We Did It
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:17 pm
This forum is an outstanding resource. Last week, I had posted a request for guidance about how to repair my 1911 original steering quadrant and got a number of suggestions. I didn't expect to get a PM from Brent Reeb, who owns E&J Metal Fabricators, LTD located only 4 miles from me! Brent has a couple of Ts, and offered to help with my project.
I wanted to repair the original quadrant because the reproduction I bought was so different in the width and shape of its mounting collar. I also did not want to disassemble the steering column any more than absolutely necessary. So that meant adding material to the original notched areas and then cutting new notches, all with the collar and control levers in place. Brent said "No sweat!"
Basically, Brent applied brass to the brass quadrant by brazing it with a TIG welder! He put a tungsten rod in the TIG gun to create the arc and controlled the heat using a foot pedal. He fused little globs of brass onto the quadrant, giving me plenty of material for finishing. He made this look easy, but I was watching an artisan at work.
After I got the column home to my shop, I sculpted the notched areas back to original using diamond cutters in a flexible shaft handpiece. I found the cutters at Walmart online. I think there are 30 cutters in a set which cost a whopping $12.00 or so with free shipping. They come in various grits. I bought 40, 80, and 150 grits. The cutter I used showed absolutely no wear when I was done. I used dividers and hand files to lay out and cut the notches.
Also, I found that a groove had worn into the steering shaft where it passes through the shaft support at the firewall. The weight of the shaft caused it to contact the housing on the bottom side, and the minimal side to side rotation in 100 years of driving concentrated all the wear on about half of the shaft. To fix this, I chucked the shaft in my lathe, cut a stepped groove all the way around it, added brass by brazing to the turned area, and then cut the brazing to the finished diameter of the housing's shaft support. (My brazing technique is not so pretty good, but I got the job done.) In effect, I had created a bushing on the shaft that takes up the wear. I used Timesaver Yellow to get the final fit. The shaft no longer flops around in the housing, and the steering is as smooth as a widow's kiss.
Hope you enjoy the photos. I will post Brent's email if you wish to contact him. If I can be of help, let me know. Cheers, Bill
I wanted to repair the original quadrant because the reproduction I bought was so different in the width and shape of its mounting collar. I also did not want to disassemble the steering column any more than absolutely necessary. So that meant adding material to the original notched areas and then cutting new notches, all with the collar and control levers in place. Brent said "No sweat!"
Basically, Brent applied brass to the brass quadrant by brazing it with a TIG welder! He put a tungsten rod in the TIG gun to create the arc and controlled the heat using a foot pedal. He fused little globs of brass onto the quadrant, giving me plenty of material for finishing. He made this look easy, but I was watching an artisan at work.
After I got the column home to my shop, I sculpted the notched areas back to original using diamond cutters in a flexible shaft handpiece. I found the cutters at Walmart online. I think there are 30 cutters in a set which cost a whopping $12.00 or so with free shipping. They come in various grits. I bought 40, 80, and 150 grits. The cutter I used showed absolutely no wear when I was done. I used dividers and hand files to lay out and cut the notches.
Also, I found that a groove had worn into the steering shaft where it passes through the shaft support at the firewall. The weight of the shaft caused it to contact the housing on the bottom side, and the minimal side to side rotation in 100 years of driving concentrated all the wear on about half of the shaft. To fix this, I chucked the shaft in my lathe, cut a stepped groove all the way around it, added brass by brazing to the turned area, and then cut the brazing to the finished diameter of the housing's shaft support. (My brazing technique is not so pretty good, but I got the job done.) In effect, I had created a bushing on the shaft that takes up the wear. I used Timesaver Yellow to get the final fit. The shaft no longer flops around in the housing, and the steering is as smooth as a widow's kiss.
Hope you enjoy the photos. I will post Brent's email if you wish to contact him. If I can be of help, let me know. Cheers, Bill