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I am rebuilding my early style M38 ROSS steering box. It was a disaster, having obviously spent some time sitting full of water. I have replaced all the ware parts, but I rescued the horn rod guide tube. I am in assembly mode now and noticed a small approx. 1/16" hole in guide tube, 2" from the top end of the tube.

This small hole might be the result of rust, as there is a lot of pitting in the area. I could fill it with a dab of epoxy, but want to know if it is necessary or not.... having a hole there doesn't make sense to me, but I will ask the experts, just in case!
Thanks for the help

Photos follow:



Jeff

Here is a closer photo - PHOTOBUCKET IS A MESS TODAY slow, slow, slow! Anybody else experiencing problems?
See next post for picture

ANY ADVICE on this?????
thanks Jeff

hopefully this is the right photo....

One of the purposes of this tube, aside from guiding the horn rod towards the center of the horn switch, is to prevent gear oil from draining out of the box when the horn switch is removed for replacement or servicing. I doubt if the gear oil level will reach as high as the pinhole in the tube. ... Brian

Thanks Brian. I agree with your logic and think it is a rust pin hole.
I am going to epoxy it closed if I don't hear differently in the next 24 hours...

Perhaps one of our fellow forum members might have one sitting on their bench where they can confirm the tube should be WITHOUT a hole??

Best, Jeff

Hey Brian (or some other MJeeper)
My tube is quite loose fitting in the bottom fitting that press fits into the bottom of the steering box. I can spin it freely and jiggle the tube in the fitting. I don't think it will stop oil in it's current state, which will in-turn fill the switch up.

A little off topic, but are these tubes swage fit into the bottom adapter? Perhaps I can re-swage it to achieve a tighter fit?

The ones I have been into are a very tight fit. Judging by the corrosion level on your tube I'd guess she's quite a bit thinner than she was when new.

It's a rust hole - in the boxes I've rebuilt (CJ2A, M38, M38A1) the tubes did not have any holes.

Jeff_Lee Photobucket isn't allowing sharing of photos anymore unless you pay a fee - formerly this was a free service. I've been a member of this website for 10 years and now all the photos I've published are now gone from the website. Bummer!

Skyjeep,

I've been a member of this website for 10 years and now all the photos I've published are now gone from the website.

You must mean the Photobucket Website not our mjeeps website?

Thanks Gentlemen.

I am now resolved that my adapter and horn tube assembly is toast. My horn switch was full of both oil and water, so it has been leaking for a while. I am going to try to replace it, as I think fixing it carries the risk of early failure.

I see Midwest Military has a replacement adapter/tube assembly available. It states it is made by them. Anybody have any experience with this solution?

Happy Independence Day!

And Wes, I was certainly referring to PHOTOBUCKET, and I believe Skyjeep was, as well.

Jeff

Wes - To publish a photo here it has to be linked to a photo-sharing website. Photobucket is now a pay-to-share site. The links to my pics are gone. Of course I can subscribe but it rankles me that the change was made without notice. I believe Google offers free photo sharing.

yes the photo must already be loaded on line somewhere that allows public access.

Just open an album here and load your jeep photos here! The only limitation we impose here is that the topic of the photos be jeep and the size of the files be limited to 200K.