Steering column bushing ordered...any tips?

[Garrett]

I made myself a bushing out of the inside portion of a spray paint lid - and it worked great. The size and thickness were a perfect match!
This was on my 65 911 - no more wobbly wheel.

[barlowdo]

Well I certainly have plenty of "Rattle Cans" around it will be nice to see them perform in a "Anti Rattle" roll.

-Don B

[Garrett]

Yes! Just cut out the middle part, put a vertical cut in the circle so it can get wider, and slide it in between the bearing and the shaft - viola!

I've even raced several times with it and it's doing great!!

[Doug Steinel]

Call Darren at Pelican and ask him if the replacement sleeve will work on your car. His extension is #223. He sold me one for my '77.

[Tspringer]

I'll call Daren tomorrow, and Ill see about trying the modified spray paint can lid.

Still.... anyone ever replaced the bushing in an early car and if so did it require total disassembly of the steering shaft?


Terry

[Garrett]

It would have to require complete disassembly from what I deduced from when I did my repair. I looked into that, but opted for the plastic bushing fix instead since there's no way to get in there without pulling out that steering rod/shaft. And that's no fun chore dealing with 40 year old bolts on a wiggly universal joint!

[Joehand1]

I found this thread and want to know something. I replaced the bushing on my wobbly steering wheel, and no more wobble. BUT, now I have slop in the steering. Zeke says it's not the torque of the 27mm nut, but something I did to the column, but WHAT could I possible have done? The bushing went on by HAND, no hammering.
Thanks for help.

[KTL]

If you didn't do any hammering on the column, then there can't be anything wrong with the column assembly itself.

The column assembly is made up of a support tube, upper bearing (bearing design is kinda crappy), steel shaft, lower sealed bearing, and some lock rings and snap rings which secure some of the parts in place. If the bearings aren't suspect, the only other parts that could cause slop in the steering column are the snap rings/circlips.

What kind of slop do you have? Does just the steering wheel have up/down play? Or is it in/out movement?

Do the turn signal and windshield wiper stalks move in unison with the slop? If so, then the shear bolts holding the column assembly are loose. One of the three bolts is easy to tighten. It's the one right underneath the dash that is in plain view (it's a smooth topped bolt head). The other two require you to remove the tachometer to get to them. They're somewhat easily tightened or removed with a pair of miniature size vise grips.

I currenty have my steering column out of the car, for a second time now, to deal with a steering wheel bearing mishap. I unfortunately feel like i'm becoming somewhat of an expert about this stupid job................

[barlowdo]

Is it possible the slop was always there any was hidden by the worn bushing ?

-Don B

[Joehand1]

Thanks Guys,
Here is the story.

Flawless steering until 2 weeks ago when the steering heel started vibrating..ie I could actually move it up and down. I replaced the bushing, and now the wheel is secure and it does not vibrate or move up and down or in and out. That problem is fixed.

What I mean by "slop" (a term used by Zeke ) is that the steering MECHANISM feels a bit loose, I feel the car "wandering" a bit, especially with speed, kind of like a 1966 F-150. When I turn, especially hard, it feels fine. It's like the steering wheel is actually loose, but Zeke says this is not possible?????????????/

I have driven the car for 17 years and never felt this "wandering" in the steering before. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[KTL]

Ahhhhh. A loose feel to the tightness of the steering feel.................

My car used to do that. Unfortunately I cannot narrow the symptom down to one item I replaced. I rehabbed a number of things when I refreshed my front suspension.

My best guess would be the tie rods of the steering rack. When the rubber bushes in them get old and sloppy, the looseness can be transferred to the rotational feel of the steering wheel while driving.

[Joehand1]

Thanks Kevin,
That makes sense, but I wonder why this problem suddenly appeared when I replaced the bushing in the steering column.

[barlowdo]

A remote possibility is a Band slipped in one of your tires causing steering problems.


I remember that "Ford" loose steering problem only to well on a 1967 Ford 390 Station Wagon. It was like it has zero feedback.

-Don B

[KTL]

If at all possible. USE THE 928 SLEEVE SOLUTION

Removing the steering column is not a fun job. It sucks. I've done it twice, so I consider myself an expert. And don't let someone tell you that you can tap another bearing on top of the old one. It doesn't work.

Here's what the upper bearing should look like:



Here's the backside you can't see when installed:



The silly plastic insert just pops right out with little effort, and this is why using the 928 sleeve is such a piece of cake.



The small pieces of the plastic insert shown here are why the bearing goes "bad" and the steering wheel gets sloppy:

[KTL]

Here's an idea of what's needed to get the steering column tube out of the car. Only then can you work on it in a vise and drive out the bearing(s)




What needs to be removed in order to get the column out, you ask?

In the front trunk:

-Disconnect negative battery cable

-Fresh air vent beneath the windshield wipers (so you can remove the control box next).

-Fresh air control box and it's associated cables & hoses (an annoying job in and of itself)

-Steering shaft cover on the floor of the trunk. The guy @ Porsche who decided to use speed nuts for fastening this thing needs a punch in the head.

-Smuggler's box lid (helps with all the climbing around the trunk you'll be doing)

-Steering shaft u-joints @ the steering rack connection in the smuggler's box and @ the connection to the column shaft behind the dashboard. Good idea to use a permanent marker and mark the orientation of the shafts to the u-joints so you reinstall them the same way they came apart. By the way, you must completely remove the bolt in order to slide the joint off the shaft.

-Don't drop any bolts into the smuggler's box or you'll be taking out the evaporator assembly too............. Been there. Done that. I won't go into how you remove the evap. thing. Figure it out yourself for being such an idiot and dropping stuff into the hole like that........... If you have A/C that is working? Don't you dare take out that evap. assembly!

Inside the car:

-Steering wheel

-Steering column plastic covers

-Turn signal, windshield wiper, and cruise control (if applicable) stalks

-Tachometer (to get at the two upper shear bolts)

-Ignition switch cover. Spins right off.

-Dashboard lower kneepad. This is so you can get a good angle with your Dremel tool (for the upcoming ignition switch screws) and lets you later get at the steering wheel lock nut and threaded pin. Believe me. Removing this pad will save you some cursing. There's two nuts holding this pad in place. One one the far left behind the HVAC vent and one on the far right that is behind a bunch of wiring and really hard to get at with any sort of tool. 1/4 in. universal joint for your socket is your friend here.

-Lower left HVAC vent on the dashboard. This is so you can get at the nut that secures the knee pad. Be gentle. These are easy to break. You have to release the clips with a flathead screwdriver by putting the screwdriver in the slots of the vent and pushing to release the clips. Easier said than done!

-Two shear bolts/anti-theft screws for ignition switch. You need to slot these with a Dremel cutting wheel so you can back them out. They have blue threadlocking paste on them and you'll need to use a screwdriver bit on a ratchet to get them turning.

-Ignition switch assembly. Disconnect it's wire harness. After you remove the two screws, you must remove the nut and threaded pin which holds the steering wheel lock to the column tube. The nut comes off no problem. The trick is the threaded pin has a 5mm (or is it 4mm? can't remember) hex key opening in the end of it. Put the key in and turn the threaded pin out. Wiggle out the ignition switch, lock assembly.

-Three shear bolts holding the column into the dash. Two are in the tachometer hole and the last is underneath the dashboard. A pair of baby curved-jaw vise grips works great on the smooth heads.

Here's a picture of the shear bolts for the ignition switch (left) and steering column tube (right).



You can see how I slotted the ignition bolts. Look close at the other bolt and you can see the teeth marks from the baby vise grips. I love baby vise grip pliers.

After removing/disconnecting all the above crap, the column can be wiggled out.

Now you get to take the thing over to your vise and work on getting out the shaft & bearings. What fun this is, eh?

[KTL]

You only need a few tools to get the bearings out and back in.

-Vise
-Big hammer
-Brass rod
-Appropriate sized circlip pliers
-Length of pipe- preferably PVC (not shown)
-Couple scraps of plywood to hold the tube in the vise
-Big screwdriver



Ignore the dark steering shaft next to the plywood scraps in the group above. It's not a tool!

The brass rod is used to drive on the steering shaft so you don't ruin the shaft with your hammer.

The length of pipe (I used steel, you use PVC) is used to drive the upper bearing in place upon reassembly. The pipe must be a diameter larger than the steering shaft but smaller diameter than the upper steering shaft bearing.

The screwdriver is used to drive out the lower bearing after you get the upper bearing and shaft removed from the tube. Use the handle of the screwdriver on the bearing and lightly tap on the driver side of the screwdriver to slide it out.

A parts diagram is helpful (since I didn't take pictures of every single part and step along the way) to see all of the parts comprising the steering column assembly.



So how do you get the bearings out?

1. Secure the column in the vise with the lower bearing side of the column (the side that would have the u-joint, not the steering wheel, attached to it) facing up. You're going to drive out the upper bearing first. Make sure the vise is tight (but don't gorilla tighten it and bend the tube) so the column won't slip out. You don't want to bend those hangers for your wiper and turn signal stalks.

2. Remove the circlip (#4) from the u-joint end of the shaft. Put the brass rod on the steering shaft and drive the shaft all the way down the tube until it pushes the upper bearing, with the shaft, out of the tube. You should now have a tube that looks like this:



See that seat/flange inside the upper part of the tube? That's why you can't put a replacement bearing atop the worn one.

3. Take the outer circlip (#5) out of the tube at the lower bearing end. Flip the tube over in your vise so you're now looking at the steering wheel end of the tube like the picture above. Insert your big screwdriver (handle first) and drive out the lower bearing. It should slide out easily.

Now you should be looking at a tube like this:



With no bearings or shaft in it:



Take the lower bearing



and regrease it if you want to. Use something durable like wheel bearing grease. To get the old grease out, soak the bearing in gasoline for a while and swish it around. To regrease, I used a oral syringe to inject grease into the bearing races.

[KTL]

Reinstalling the bearings:

1. Tap the lower bearing into the tube (making sure the inner circlip is in place and the exposed greasy side faces inward) and install the outer circlip.

2. Slide the shaft into the tube and push the shaft thru the lower bearing. It should slide thru the bearing quite easily. Install the smallest circlip on the shaft end.

3. Go to the upper bearing side and slide the new, dreaded plastic-sleeved bearing onto the shaft. Slide it all the way down to the column tube edge. Lightly tap around the edges to get the bearing started in the tube opening.

4. Use your length of plastic PVC pipe and drive the upper bearing into the tube until it is squarely seated on the flange inside the tube. Use a light swab of oil inside the tube and on the bearing's outer surface (I didn't do this, but should have) to help it slide more easily. The upper bearing's metal exterior casing is rather soft and you don't want to drive it in any harder than necessary.

5. Install the toothed lock ring washer (#13) that I forgot to mention you removed from the tube a looooong time ago during this horrible job.

Congratulations. Your steering column assembly is now reassembled and ready for reinstallation. All you need is some new shear bolts (If you want to, but regular bolts will work too. They just won't be tamper-proof anymore.) to replace the old ones you removed, which are now technically garbage.

Have fun reinstalling all the junk that you had to remove in order to get that column out so you could replace that stupid bearing. You're on your own from here..................... I'll state the obligatory Haynes or Bentley service manual statement. "Installation is the reverse of removal."

[Wil Ferch]

Kevin did a great job on this post...but I believe it applies to 74+ cars.

There is still an issue on the 73 and earlier cars that may need complete steering column tear down.

Search out Anologmike on this forum, I think he faced this problem once on his 72RS clone.

Wil

[14tarpon]

i have an 86 911 carrera, and have received the new bushing for my steering column. to get the horn pad off (4 spoke steering wheel - horizontal H) do i just pull like heck until it pops off ???
thanks for the help.
14Tarpon

[KTL]

Yep.

Just grab onto the horn pad and give a sharp pull to remove it. Nothing fancy about it.