Steering Bellcrank Chamfered Washers

When I was driving my Jeep the steering was terrible. In my restoration I've been trying to eliminate all the sources for this one by one, and next on the list for some attention is the steering bellcrank. I tore it apart and cleaned and refurbished all of the components on my 7/8" shaft, and almost everything is looking good.

The FSM calls for two inside chamfered washers, at top and bottom of the sleeve that holds the pinch bolt, installed with the chamfer "in" on both the top and bottom of the shaft. I have one of these OEM chamfered washers, but the other is just a Chinese made thick washer from the hardware store. A quick look at the available repair kits do not seem to show any chamfered washers.

Of course there is a very detailed thread from 2018 on 4wdmechanix where Moses Ludel tried to troubleshoot a failure of someone's bellcrank while driving (yikes!) and provides voluminous information, including:

It seems as if having these washers is important - so why don't the repair kits include them? Does anyone know if a parts source for them?

 

I actually started that thread on the 4WD Mechanix site (Steering Bellcrank Shaft Wobble and Eventual Failure- ). This happened to my brother in law, but fortunately it occurred just as he stopped in his driveway. The pinch bolt evidently became loose over time and eventually fell out - then the shaft rotated until it fully unscrewed from the retaining nut on top, causing it to fall through the washer, out of the bracket, and onto the pavement. Pretty darn scary.

He currently has one of the tapered roller bearing modified bellcrank assemblies made by Mcruff installed in his '67, which he has been very happy with. It stays nice and tight, and also eliminates the possibility of such a failure ever happening again. Here's a post about that modification with photos:

This Mornings Machining Project