[Jalopiejoe]

I recently bought a '26 Ford Modified that has a Schroeder TQ/mini steering box. I have not been able to find anything that shows the inards. Even if you can post pictures of parts like the steering shaft with worm, helical wheel, bearings etc.
I contacted Gary Schroeder and he wasn't much help, said there were photos of parts on his Web site, there are not! He did not have any PDF's or links to help me out! I would like to know what's in there and if there is anything to service and know how to make adjustments!
Thanks! Joe

[TQ29m]

Well, I will try to get you some information, having been a Schroeder dealer for several years, in some units they put grease in them, others they used gear lube, to take out the slack, remove the bolts that hold the halves together, and turn it one or two bolt holes and ck it, bearings are standard, so not hard to find, I have a few parts left, new wheel shafts, that's about it. Bob

[badcoupe]

These are very simple boxes as Bob says. Mr Schroeder isn't selling/making them anymore as we recently inquired about a new one. The bearings and seals are easily available all you need are the numbers off of them. Some had a grease zerk and only took grease the ones with an Allen plug were setup up to use gear oil 80w90 etc. does it have any slop? If so that can easily be remedied. The gears usually lasted indefinitely unless it suffered some trauma such as a bad crash.

[Jalopiejoe]

The car is a hot rod and was built 10 years ago and was only driven 300 miles and has just sat in a garage.
You could feel a drag or dry spot when you turned the wheel. I removed the plug and stuck a wire tie in there and found some grease so I replaced the plug with a grease fitting and pumped some grease into it and that loosened it up alot.
It has a little free-play but I would think you would need some to help the steering come back to center. I know it won't be tight at center like a normal steering box! I would still like to see some internal pictures.

[TQ29m]

Not much in there to see, they normally had about an 8th to 3/8ths slack in them new, and with only that few miles on it, I'd run it, and watch it, as they used to say, you can take off the steering arm, and rotate it 360*, it might not hurt to do that, if you don't have anything else to do, the only thing I might suggest, is to take it apart, clean all the grease out, and fill it with some synthetic gear lube, grease tends to get holes in it, and then allows it to rust, just a thought. Bob

[Jalopiejoe]

Bob,this car also has a steering multiplier (made from a Coleman unit) attached at the box to make it "streetable" and I believe that may also add some free-play but it's not enough to worry about adjustment of the box!
There is no reason to take it apart since it is basically "new". I would just like to see what the inside components look like!
I did take the pitman arm off when I greased the box and rotated several times to work the grease throughout.
It smoothed and loosened it up nicely!

[glen88]

try googleing schroeder steering plenty of picture of it come up some disassmbled.hope this helps

[Jalopiejoe]

Thanks Glen I've tried that but still not finding what I want to see. I would like to see the steering shaft with worm gear, bearings, etc. Haven't found that on Google. I've looked for parts on ebay, no luck there either.

[jjones752]

I was about to write what Glen just said; I've had mine apart and Bob's right, not much there. A worm gear and a pinion gear on 2 perpendicular shafts and the support bearings; the housing bolt hole pattern's eccentric compared to the cover, which is how you adjust the lash.
Helpful hint: if you ever do take it apart, scribe a line on the mating pieces so you orient it the same way going back together or that lash adjustment may take forever...

[Baylands]

Originally Posted by Jalopiejoe Bob,this car also has a steering multiplier (made from a Coleman unit) attached at the box to make it "streetable" and I believe that may also add some free-play but it's not enough to worry about adjustment of the box! There is no reason to take it apart since it is basically "new". I would just like to see what the inside components look like! I did take the pitman arm off when I greased the box and rotated several times to work the grease throughout. It smoothed and loosened it up nicely!

Here you're talking to people that pull everything apart because we tagged the wall hard last week and need to check everything before going back the next race. If it's giving you sleepless nights wondering what's inside just pull the damn thing apart with a buddy that can put it back together if you can't. You could also Google "Worm and gear manual steering box", the Schroeder is just a nice aluminum/magnesium version of an old steering box from the 30's. I don't think you'll get sympathy from this crowd you think it's too much work to pull it out of the car! Spend an evening in the pits at Kokomo.