Steering Bellcrank Mod with Paired Tapered Roller Bearings

If you have a problem with your jeep's bellcrank bearings wearing and affecting the steering, this may be a modification worth considering.

Lawrence Elliott has developed a great solution to this problem. Lawrence figured out that that certain stock bellcranks could be machined to accept a particular set of paired tapered roller bearings (automotive wheel bearings), complete with hardened outer races / cups and teflon seals. This assembly replaces the original bellcrank bearing setup, and a new bearing shaft sized for the tapered roller bearings and fitted with a pin style adjustment replaces the stock shaft. As you can see in the pics below, the final product looks simple and slick. I understand that he can make this modification to bellcranks for the CJ3B up through the early CJ5 / 6, and possibly some other jeep models as well.

When I spoke with Lawrence, he indicated that the cost of the labor and new parts (not including the bellcrank, which needs to be new or NOS, and furnished by the owner) is around $250. If you're interested in possibly having him build one for your jeep, give him a call at 828-287-5275.

 

Hi, does anyone knows the part number of the tapered bearings for the bell crank mod? Thanks!

 

There are probably several tapered roller bearings that could be made to work, but the modified bellcrank setup that mcruff on this forum builds (see This Mornings Machining Project) uses these:

Timken Set1 (LM11749 & LM11710) pair 2 Cups/Cones two cups and two cones

If interested, you could start a conversation with mcruff about building a modified bellcrank for you.
@Mcruff

 

Wow wish I knew about this conversion before I bought a bronze bushing kit for mine.

 

Thanks a lot, Maury! I agree with you, 1957willys, I saw the mod after I got the repair kit.
Maury, I am a mechanic with a shop that fortunately has machining capabilities, and I can operate in half a decent way a lathe and a milling machine. I'm right now in the process of rebuilding/modifying my Ross steering box. I will try to post some pics.
Thanks again!

 

Maaan, my typing sucks! But I hate autocorrect. I will pay more attention in the future texts! Sorry!

 

Any idea why two different bearings? Shouldn't it be symmetrical the set up? Just asking...

 

Here ya go!

 

1 number is for the seat the other is the bearing itself.

 

Thanks! I usually look those up in mcmaster.com and one part number includes both rollers and out race, hence my confusion.

 

Does anyone knows if tapered rollers are needed for this application? It looks to me the load is mostly radial, not a lot of thrust. Were tapered bearing used due to mechanical requirements (needed) or just because is what was available at the time (I've done that sooo much!). Thanks!

 

Tapered bearings allow you to set the preload easily.

 

Any side load using standard bearings will be multiplied several times adding slop to the system. It is the only reason to used tapered bearings to eleminate all movement.

 

Thanks! I just have access to needle rollers that are 7/8 ID, same as my pin and I thought I could give it a try using one on each end. Tapered bearing it is, then!

 

Are those brown disks plastic washers or oil seals? And if they are, does anyone have a part number? Thanks!

 

Part numbers listed in here.

Bellcrank woes

 

I must be blind...did not find them.

 

Those are grease seals custom turned to fit the specific application, so they wouldn't be stock items you could order. They were made from either nylon or teflon, as I recall. Mcruff may be able to help you further with that.

 

Anyways, it uses 2 tapered roller bearings with rubber seals attached to the cones: Timken LM11949L. The number is still good.

DISCLAIMER: These are part numbers off of cones and rollers that were used on bellcranks that were commercially produced in the '60s and '70s.
Don't know what others are using for their units or modifications.