Broken Omix Steering Sector Shafts Warning! for my Friends!!

[RICKG]

A new development and it's good news.
http://www.omix-ada.com/media/Steering% ... Recall.pdf

[4x4M38]

Well that is a good thing.

Thanks Oilly for starting the thread and others for documentation.

[oilleaker1]

Pretty simple, I don't want to lose any of my Jeep friends.

[Hawkshadow]

I opened up my steering box today expecting to find one of the recalled sector shafts as I purchased and installed the replacement during the period specified in the recall. However, is it just me or does this sector shaft not match the recalled units?



Any input is appreciated, as I'm having serious problems removing it from the pitman arm and would be pleasantly surprised if I don't have to...

[oilleaker1]

The outside does not look welded around the end of the shaft . Take a small mirror and look at the shaft on the inner side. There should be a ground radius, not a visable crack . Yours does not look like the culprits. I can't believe how many different batches of these things were made. The good ones are forged as one piece. Then machined. If you don't see a crack where the shaft meets the end plate with the two tits that ride in the worm, I'd not go any farther and run it. Go back and look at the pictures of the two broken shafts together. You can see where they were assembled as a end plate and shaft, then welded on the outside. Two pieces. The shaft is reduced in size where it goes through the end plate. That makes it smaller and weaker. The stress during use breaks it at that crack area I mentioned.

[oilleaker1]

It's your call, if you don't feel comfortable with the one you have, I'd get another made by crown, or a original that has the radius ground and is one piece. The cost of another and peace of mind is well worth it. If the sector breaks off, you have no steering at all. If one brake pulls more than the other, you can flip, have a head on, go off the cliff, etc. All bad. If you put a wood block between the end of the shaft and the engine block, you can drive the pitman arm off with a big brass punch. Or, loosen the column, take the pitman arm out of the draglink and rotate the box around so you can put a two jaw puller on the pitman arm. Or, pull the entire column out after you remove the steering wheel. All is better than the accident. The quality control is terrible in all the automotive restoration parts. sectors, worms, steering wheels that don't fit, pittman arms that don't fit, sheet metal, body kits, inferior metalurgy, etc. You have to beware. I had to go back and reset rivets on brake lining! They were loose. Junk! John

[wesk]

John, I would use the term Gap instead of Crack to describe the junction of the separate shaft with the separate sector plate while pointing out the lack of a blending radius.

[Hawkshadow]

I was able to determine that my shaft was not a recalled unit. Here are the pictures that Omix sent me to illustrate the difference.

Machined one piece unit is not subject of the recall. The machined "radius" illustrated.




Note the difference on the recalled 2piece units.


Without driving out my sector shaft I was able to get my finger in to the box to feel the "radius". It is worth noting that I purchased this shaft during the recall period, so that alone is not enough to tell if your shaft will be one of the faulty units. Either they were distributing multiple parts at the same time, or I lucked out and received old stock…

[wesk]

So to be perfectly clear here:

The attached photos were provided to you by Omix?

Your sector was purchased from Omix?

You determined the sector you purchased from Omix was not a 2 piece by feeling a pronounced radius while it is installed in your steering gear box?

[Hawkshadow]

So to be perfectly clear here:

The attached photos were provided to you by Omix?

Your sector was purchased from Omix?

You determined the sector you purchased from Omix was not a 2 piece by feeling a pronounced radius while it is installed in your steering gear box?

Yes to all 3. Also verified with an inspection camera as my head is too large to fit in to the steering box and I would have had to drive the pitman arm off of the sector shaft to remove it.

[wesk]

I just wanted to be sure Jordan. You are the first, I believe, to produce evidence that OMIX was marketing two different manufactured sector shafts during the same period. One 2 piece and one 1 piece and their recall only applies to the 2 piece shaft.

[Hawkshadow]

Can't recall if I ordered the rebuild kit from Just Jeeps here in Toronto or from Kaiser Willys, but here are the parts together in a picture that I took before install in May 2014.

[wesk]

I only see the bags with part numbers for the bearing, bushings and seal. Do you have any record for the part number of the sector shaft that establishes who manufactured it?

[Hawkshadow]

I only see the bags with part numbers for the bearing, bushings and seal. Do you have any record for the part number of the sector shaft that establishes who manufactured it?

Wish that I did, but unfortunately this is the best I've been able to find from digging through the records. I remember it came in an omix bag like the rest of the parts you see in the picture, but I removed it for comparing to the original shaft and the bag didn't make it in to this picture.

[wesk]

Perhaps you could locate a copy of the order or get the list of PN's ordered from the suppliers?