Very Heavy Steering After a Drive

[jbscheff]

I took my newly rebuilt '73 911 out for a drive today and after about 50 miles noticed that the steering effort was getting progressively worse. It was fine when I left the house, and for most of the drive out. By the midpoint of the run though, it seemed like it was 'sticking'. The wheel did not 'self-center' after a turn. It eventually got to the point where two hands were required for every steering input, even return to center. Making a 90-degree turn from a stop - very hard. Fortunately when by the time it got really bad, I was almost home.

I thought perhaps it might be the steering bushing at the top of the column - nope. It's fine and spins freely. I've not lubed up all the u-joints yet, but I'll hit those tomorrow. What I'm really worried about is that it might be the rack.

This was the first time it had been driven in the rain since it's rebuild. Could moisture have gotten into the rack and gummed it all up? Any other ideas of what it might be?

Thanks in advance

Jason

[john walker's workshop]

Below the u-joints is a rubber bushing with a needle bearing inside. The bearing gets dry and binds the shaft.

[fanaudical]

Were you doing any front suspension work? Any possibility that things weren't tight and suspension geometry changed during the drive?

[shrtshck]

Listen to John, steering shaft support bearing in the smugglers box. Had similar issue with my car, run some oil down the shaft into the support bearing, if feel improves will need to refresh the bearing.

[jbscheff]

Took the steering linkage apart and sure enough the needle bearing is seized. U-joints all move freely. However, with the linkage all disconnected, the steering wheel is still difficult to turn (although much better). The upper bearing seems good, so I suspect that the lower steering shaft bearing at the 'firewall' may also be shot. There's a series of circlips holding that end in, so I'm not looking forward to that.

[sugarwood]

If you're doing this repair, can you post photos for people to learn from?

[mo-mon]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

If you're doing this repair, can you post photos for people to learn from?

I believe KTL has an exhaustive thread on this.

[jbscheff]

Looks like I'll need a new needle bearing. Some PB Blaster freed up the old one enough to move, but it was not smooth. Felt like sand or something in the bearing so that one will get replaced. The lower steering shaft bearing just needed some lube and the 'muck' cleared off the back of the bearing. Now, with the linkage disconnected, the steering wheel spins freely as I would expect.

Here are some relevant pictures:

Lower steering shaft bearing and U-joint. Lots of lube sprayed on the back side here, and also down the steering shaft from inside the cockpit. Now the wheel spins freely


This is where the needle bearing and rubber bushing are mounted in the smuggler's box. Almost looks like the rubber bushing was spinning a bit in the mounting.


Here's the needle bearing and the bushing removed from the car. I used a couple of big sockets to punch the bearing out of the bushing.