Dan,
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Concerning your front wheel bearings, hopefully careful cleaning and new grease/adjustment will do the trick.? I'm sure you know to check the races for pitting and wear.? Should you opt for new bearings be very suspicious of replacements... I bought and returned bearings that were supposed to be SKF out of Sweden but were substandard knock-offs... in the end I reused the old bearing.
I've had several vehicles that had worn steering boxes.? In the most memorable case, a 1974 Volvo 142 (wonderful car), I replaced the box twice with replacements from the wrecking yard, only to be disappointed both times.? A new or "rebuilt box" was unavailable.? However, I found out there was a different design power steering box, made by ZF in Germany, available on a higher model.? One trip to a wrecking yard in Washington State for the parts and all was solved in more than one way (cost $75 plus time and fuel).? The point is, could you not adapt a more modern steering box to the vehicle and be done with?? Same with your drums, can you not move up to discs?? I have Saginaw steering and discs on our wagon, can't that, or similar route not be found for your planar setup?
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Cheers, Pavel up North
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