Well, spend a few hours today rebuilding the steering box. I don't understand how someone can let something get so bad when all that it really needed was a few shots of grease from time to time. I was concerned that the worm was worn unevenly so I did the initial adjustment out at one end. Once I got everything set how I wanted, there was barely any slack in the wheel, as compared to the sector shaft. On the other hand, now I can tell exactly how bad the rest of the steering is. McMaster Carr will be getting a fair bit of my mad money this month to replace every single tie rod end. The front axle also has some pretty significant movement, but I think I will be doing a bit of re-engineering in that area. I will be installing radius rods to handle that.
I also overhauled the speed adjust lever while I had it out. The rivets holding the handle onto the flat spring had developed a lot of slop. Improvised an anvil and peened the rivets and presto, good as new. Of course, once again, getting one thing tight reveals all the slop in the rest of the linkage. I will be fabricating new linkages with threaded rod and small heim joints. I will be going thru the rest of the speed control next. Going to have to replace the springs, shim up the linkages, and to a little welding. Need to build up the pins where they ride in the slots. they have flat spots worn into them. Not severe by any stretch of the imagination, but If I have them out, may as well add a little weld and file them to fit a little better.
Guess the pump is coming out next weekend.