re: steering rack failure from days ago...

[zenwrenchpaul]

Some of you may recall a 1969 911 that experienced a steering binding / failure a few days back (I posted a request for tips / suggestions)....well after a thorough disassembly - it took all of 30 minutes) I have discovered what led to the failure - and hopefully can prevent others from having this horror occur.

The basic assembly is as follows:

8.8 grade 8mm bolts (4) pass through a rubber dampener/coupling affixing the rack flange to the U joint flange on the collumn. Inside the rubber coupling are removable steel sleeves, and under the bolts are bendable metal lock plates.

On the car in question - all the above parts were re-used by a previous installer. The rubber had obvious signs of deformation, and the lock plates were probably no longer up to the task of keeping the bolts from rotating / vibrating loose. Luckily the flange on the rack survived - threads perfectly fine, but the bolts worked loose and one of the metal sleeves fell down about 10mm into the cavity on top of the rack - causing the binding.

I will be reassembling the whole thing with NEW hardware, etc - and will also drill new factory bolts to accept safety wire, adding loctite, and a new coupling. I suspect this will prevent ANY future failure. I would have used OEM type Wurth bolts - but since I had a dealership order anyway - I figured I go OE Porsche. Save the Home Depot stuff for your bathroom.

....so the tip is: NEVER reuse old parts for safety items (and what part on a Porsche doesn't really affect safety at 100 mph + anyway?)

Thanks for those of you that responded. Luckily this failure didn't cause any further damage / injury, and will be a simple fix.

All the Best!

Paul

[Paulporsche]

Good advice. Thanks.