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Is this



The part identified as #7 Seal, Steering bell-crank bracket?


Is it a standard part that comes with the rebuild kits?

Yesit looks like that is the seal you identified..... And no it does not come in rebuild kit.
I boight one seperate on ebay from one of the known dealers mentioned on this sitebut cant recall who it was.

As far as what you have I cant help with that. However, the seal #7 is actually all rubber. #6 is a small spring that wraps around it to hold it tight. Brent Mullins is the one on Ebay who sells the seal. I just ordered one a little over a month ago. A spring from an old axle seal can be used for #6.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171679100095?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

In sinrisnekaf members photo album (on the first page of members albums) he has a another picture of the seal with the pivot bolt (pg. 2) and another excellent diagram of the spring that goes around it (pg. 3).

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure where the pictured part went to be able to measure - it may have been lost during blasting. I wonder if it was a dual purpose seal and spacer?

Does this seal simply keep contaminants out of the bellcrank and keep the grease in? Or is it also needed in between the bellcrank and the extended lower lip of the braket?

Is the bellcrank with the threaded lower dust cap a standard m38 part? Most of the photos and diagrams that I am finding don't show it.

Hi Jordan,
I believe the seal is there to help keep out water during
fording.

Thanks Brian,

I tightened up the bellcrank and the steering immediately felt tighter with less slack. I went out for a drive and still had 1 instance of the wobble/ shudder after going over a decent bump which persists until you steer back and forth. Is this a sign of worn bellcrank internals needing rebuild?

I rebuilt everything back to the Pittman arm.
The steering box is next.

I have significant play in the Pittman arm
just by pushing it up and down, so I'm sure
the bearings in the box are shot.

Like you, I substantially improved the steering
to the point where it is drive able (not
on the road), but the last link in the
chain is the Pittman arm/steering box.

Have you rebuilt it all?

The death wobble has been discussed ad infinitum here and
searching just a few posts will give you all of the troubleshooting
points, including the knuckle bearings.

Specifically to the Bellcrank do you have any play in the shaft to
bearing horizontal plane? If you try to wiggle it side to side
does it move at all? There are clearances to check, but if you
have any play by hand with it all tightened up then yes you
probably need new bearings.

Once I rebuilt mine and the drag link and tie rods, it became
apparent the problem I had was with the Pittman shaft
bearings.

If you search this forum for death wobble there are many detailed posts that list all the possible causes. This is the resulting search result list using Death Wobble as the search term:

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... de=results

These are a few of the many threads shown:

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... ath+wobble

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... ath+wobble

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... ath+wobble

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... 1751#41751

http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... 5359#35359

Thanks for the input. It didn't even register that what I was experiencing was the fabled "death wobble".

At this point the tie rod ends have been replaced, the internals of the steering box have been re-done minus the shaft & worm, and the front axles including king pin bearings are all-new. That leaves confirming the kingpin preload, checking bellcrank wobble, and slack in drag link or pitman. I'll take a read through the TM to check testing for those parts.

When I tightened up the bellcrank I didn't notice any movement but will go over it once more.

Thanks again.

Be sure and check for proper adjustment of the Ross
steering box. I went back and retread your earlier post
and you said the wobble stopped after steering back and
forth. Many folks have had to slow way down to recover.

Let us know what you find, or don't!

The fastest way to stop the death wobble when it appears is to firmly apply the brakes.

As was pointed out in several of the links I posted for you, if you have more than 1/2" to 1" steering wheel play measured at the rim of the steering wheel before the tires try to move you still have steering linkage wear issues to sort out.

I finally came across the part in question in one of the boxes! The death wobble kept creeping back in over time. I put the part back in at the beginning of the season in June and there hasn't been a single wobble since.

It's hard to tell, but it definitely said National and what looks like a part number of maybe 80351 or something similar...













It doesn't appear to be in the pam, but fits perfectly and makes a huge difference so whoever thought of it was definitely on to something.

Have the exact same part on my M38CND 1952. This seal is on the top side of the bell crank inside a retainer ring that fits over a flange on the bell crank. I could make out the part number once I punched it out. It is a National 50151S oil seal, used to seal for fording from what I could gather. That type of seal is not found in the bell crank rebuild kits I could find.

From what I can make out, the seal and the retainer ring correspond to the part #7 (7375180), page 49, of the exploded view of the bell crank assembly on page 48 of the TM 9-1804B manual.

The dimensions are exactly the same as yours. Mine was warned out so I have to replace it. It is available from a couple of vendors on the net. Could be replaced with a rubber seal with the same dimensions as others have done I guess.

The bell crank to steering bell crank frame bracket spring loaded seal, part #6 (7375177), goes on top of the #7 seal. That particular original part is not available anymore from what I could read. Some have replaced it by a grommet 1 1/8'' ID by 1 11/16'' OD by 1/4'' size (someone posted a picture with the dimensions on one of the bell crank threads). No spring needed.

Thanks for posting the pictures. There a many threads on bell crank rebuilds but I had found none with the pictures I was looking for. Seems there are a couple of different variants of the builds. This one, like mine, has the fording seal and a dust cap screwed on the bottom (missing on my M38CND).

Thanks for the pictures! Helped me a lot making sense of my rebuild puzzle.