Cross-Threaded Shaft

xstucker

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Joined
29 Jun 2001
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I have a bronze shaft in my steering mechanism that is very similar to a propeller shaft as it has a taper and thread on the end which the steering wheel is fitted onto. At some point, someone has cross-threaded the nut on the end, so the thread on the shaft is messed up. Does anyone out there know if it is possible to have the thread re-built? I don't know if some clever engineering people can weld some more bronze onto the end and turn a thread of the original size, or something like that. The reason I would like to do this rather than going down a couple of sizes on the thread is that there are standard size nuts that go on the steering system, so I would like to use one.
 
This sounds straightforward

What sort of sizes are you talking about, and is it easy / feasible to remove the shaft?
If it can be dismantled and there is plenty of metal under the damaged thread it should be fairly easy for any engineering workshop to turn down the damaged section and than shrinkfit / weld (ie braze) / glue a bush onto the damaged section and cut the correct thread.
(Check that it is a single start and RH or LH thread before they cut the thread though!)
This shouldn't be an expensive repair, and I can't really imagine it taking more than a couple of hours.

Good Luck! :)
 
Thanks for the reply. The shaft is in a Lewmar steering pedestal and it holds the wheel, so it is pretty easy to remove. As it is a 2002 version and thus earlier than their current (2006) version, Lewmar charge over £300 + vat for a replacement and it is only a 6" by 1" shaft.
 
How bad is the shaft chewed? If it's not too bad, a thread file may fix it or a die nut if it is bad. At £300.00 for a new one it jast has to worth trying to fix it.

73s de
Johnth
 
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