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Hello again from Brisbane and i hope everyone is well, Was just wondering if there are any places apart from Fusick that would sell a rebuild kit for my 58 Olds steering box ? Would this be a Saginaw? Not sure. Are there any stores that some of the members here might recommend,. there is a leak coming from , I think the steering box ,The transmission guy said it was dripping on his head. ( i will take a close look ) hopefully it could be a crack in one of the hoses?, fingers crossed.!!! I have seen the kits from Fusick but they seem very expensive ? I ended up buying new transmission mounts from Steelrubber as they were a heck of a lot cheaper postage wise than Fusick too but im not sure if they sell these kits..Also do you folks think it's not too hard to re kit the box? I think it maybe a tight fit trying to get the thing out to start with but i don't mind having a go to re kit it .Always Keen to Learn!!! I'm not sure if i mentioned in my last post that i picked up my car after having the transmission rebuilt . It drives great really smooth apart from the delay from 2nd to 3rd, I was reading somewhere that i might need to adjust a linkage slightly maybe a 1/4 " one way or the other to get the smooth transition from 2nd to 3rd , i gather it can be a fine line to get it right? Apart from that the gears change smooth and quiet. John, the guy that did the trans said just leave it be as this can sometimes be the result of this kind of gearbox. a lot of pumping of fluid from one end to the other. He said the jetaway was very similar to a Rolls Royce transmission.Interesting! Any comments and advice would be very welcome, All the best , Ray, Brisbane .ps , Am off to a all American Independence Day car show on Sunday , I'll be sure to post some pics, Cheers.
Do you have a 1958 Oldsmobile Service Manual ? https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-OLDSMO...QAAOxysE5SbgO8
You , and your mechanic , may want to review it before tackling a re-build of the steering box .
Your mechanic is right about the similarity of this transmission to Rolls-Royce .
Rolls -Royce bought automatic transmissions from GM for a number of years .
Is this a power-steering gearbox, manual steering, or manual gearbox with a power ram on the linkage like Ford and early Corvette? A genuine PS gearbox will need some special tools to do a proper rebuild--but putting in a pitman shaft seal is relatively easy.
As said, the real GM service manual is essential.
Rolls-Royce bought the rights to the ORIGNAL Hydra-matic, which they built and used long after GM dumped it. The Dual-Coupling Hydra-matic is a different unit, based on but different from the original Hydra-matic. Both Hydra-matics were sensitive to band adjustment. For the record, the Buick engineers called Hydra-matic "Hydra-Jerk", and went out of their way to produce a totally different "automatic" transmission that didn't shift at all unless you moved the lever manually, eliminating the "jerk" but also crushing any hope of decent acceleration.
Hello again and thanks for your replies, i wish i knew half as much about these old cars as you folks do!! As far as i know it is a power steering box, no ram etc. I just got off the phone to a steering rebuild guy and he tells me it is most likely a saginaw steering box, he will put up on the hoist in the next few days and take a look, I will climb under the car tonight and take a look. Pretty sure there is no ram as it would have noticed when i rebuilt the front end etc, Many thanks again, I'll keep you posted.Oh and yes i do have the workshop manual for the car so i'll be sure to look it over., ive added a pic best i can of the steering box, Sorry about the size.Is this a Saginaw? Cheers.
Last edited by piperman60; August 21st, 2019 at 03:38 AM.
As previously mentioned , Oldsmobile used Saginaw power steering gears exclusively .
The type you have is an early type with the valve mounted atop the steering box .
It was used from 1956 thru 58 . And is shown in the first illustration .
The type shown in the second illustration was the more familiar type used from 1959 on .
The illustration says 1959 thru 1963 because the illustration dates from 1963 .
In fact , this type steering gear was used well into the nineties .
Last edited by Charlie Jones; August 21st, 2019 at 10:22 AM.
June 30th, 2019 | 06:44 PM
