Haven't wanted to jinx myself by talking about it, but now that more than 3
years have passed, I can share my epoxy fix to the worn worm gear at the end
of the steering shaft of my '79 Ford van.
I shot-blasted the worn edge of the spiral-like gear to get the best adhesion
possible, applied a metal-repair epoxy (mail ordered from an industrial epoxy
supplier) and hand-filed the repair to the original shape.
Son-of-a-gun worked like a charm.
Lucky (sometimes) John Mascaro