wow this is all great info guys , now to answer a few questions you've posted. this box is a 48 crosley and has been modified for use in a 1959 Lyndwood dragster. this was one of the early dragsters with big tubing and a really short wheelbase (98") the steering shaft has been lengthened to make it a "cowl steering" (center mounted steering) dragster set up. I found the dragster in 1989 in a salvage yard and fully restored it to circa 1964 era (a the car was ran before it was retired for being out of date,compaired to newer ,lighter & longer wheel base dragsters of that time. as stated the Ross box's were used heavily in both dirt track cars & drag cars till the aftermarket caught up in the mid 60's and started to produce aluminum race box's based off of the ross design.
when I found the dragster someone had had the ross box opened as the bolts holding it together here very loose (not even hand tight) at that time I just cleaned up the outside of the box for paint and tightened everything up. through the 90's I ranthe car in vintage exhibition at nostalgia drag races for show. the box always worked but the more I used the car, the steering seemed to get chunky or binding when turning? the NHRA outlawed the original old dragsters from running in late 96 due to their age and non compliance with current rules so after that all you could do was display them and start the engine for people to hear (boring). I parked the rail from 97 till 2003 when the nostalgia craze started up again, you still cant run them but they will let you start them and sometimes do a parade lap to show they still run. I decided to sell the dragster this year and thought I should address the steering issue before selling so thats why I took it apart to fix it.
when I found the it the cover tube was off the top of the box so I assume rain water may have gotten in to the top bearings and thats why they are pitted, the bottom bearings actually have no pitting, just less balls then the top. there was no oil in the box only really old grease (black) deep into the case and newer (light brown) grease that I had pumped in through the grease zerk over the years. if these box's take oil and not grease why is there a grease zerk on the box?
I will set the worm gear end play as T.R.K has described (makes sense) and if I read other posts on this site correctly I center the steering shaft after counting rotations left to right then adjust the following pin play with the nut on the side of the box. my question on that is how far do I adjust that,just so there is drag on the pin? wish I could post pics now to show you what I found + some pics of the dragster, alot of you guys may appreciate it as it's from a time when the "little guy" could run and have fun in a dragster (before corporate america got involved)
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