Steering shaft removal w/o removing column!

[Chuck.H]

Based on the posts from Kevin (KTL) and others, I made some simple tools last nite to pull the shaft out of the column from inside the car.

A piece of round steel conduit will fit perfectly on the edge of the column - cut another small piece of conduit, slot it and put it over the end to keep the tube sitting on the column - this 'collar' will fit over the conduit and the outside of the steering column.

Make two tubes, one short to pull the shaft from the lower bearing, then when that's free make a longer tube to pull the shaft + the upper bearing out. The longer tube is shown below and you can see at the bottom the small slotted piece of conduit.



Once the tube is in place, use some washers and the steering wheel nut to force the shaft upward. I used an electric impact wrench which for me turned the nut without having to hold the shaft. For the first 'pull' I was able to slip the u-joint on the end of the shaft and hold it thru the tach hole.

The nut only has a little range, so you have to back it off and add washers one or two times, but it worked like a charm for me. Here is the shaft and the two tubes, along with the bearing press I used to remove the lower bearing once the shaft was out:



Thanks to everybody who posted 'steering shaft removal' posts, they really helped me visualize what was going on in there! Read those before attempting, they will point you to the HVAC and snap rings, etc. you need to remove first.

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 339k miles

[KTL]

That is full of awesome Chuck. I can't believe i'm the only one who's replied to this topic, appreciating how great that puller system is!

Others should know that the lower bearing is a very light press fit in the steering column. Once you have removed the snap ring/circlip holding the bearing in the column, it takes very little effort to get the bearing to move out of the column.

Also, the lower bearing is an "open" bearing. What that means is you can literally see the ball bearings and grease. I don't know why Porsche spec'd a bearing like this but whatever. Nice feature is that you can hose out the bearing with some brake cleaner and re-pack with fresh grease. I suspect most people can get back on track by re-greasing the original bearing and not have to replace it.

Great job Chuck and thanks for sharing. Your tool design will save somebody a lot of work in the future.

[RoninLB]

[QUOTE=KTL;6970771]



Also, the lower bearing is an "open" bearing. What that means is you can literally see the ball bearings and grease. I don't know why Porsche spec'd a bearing like this but whatever.
[QUOTE]



I've seen some open bearings that can be ordered sealed on one or both sides

[dede911]

Hi,

What has to be done before starting pulling the shaft?

Disconnecting the U-joint, this is clear.

What other things have to be disconnected/removed?

Thanks,

André

[shinrai]

Waking up this post because my steering wheel locks during turns from time to time and I suspect the plastic sleeve on the upper bearing has disintegrated and the parts have fallen into the lower bearing.

Obviously I do not want to remove the column. Life is too short.

Just a thought but has anybody had any luck using a slide hammer to pull the shaft out of the column? If not what size of conduit is shown in the photos above?

TIA

[KTL]

Originally Posted by dede911

Hi,

What has to be done before starting pulling the shaft?

Disconnecting the U-joint, this is clear.

What other things have to be disconnected/removed?

Thanks,

André

I don't believe there's anything else that needs to be removed from the lower end of the shaft. The PET parts diagram shows a circlip (#4) on the shaft but i'm not 100% certain that diagram is correct. Worth a look in the trunk to see if there's a circlip in place beyond the u-joint before you start removing the shaft. Otherwise, the shaft passes through the inside diameter of the bearing with only a modest press fit. It doesn't require a lot of force to get the shaft out of the lower bearing.

To get the shaft out, you first use the short section of conduit shown in Chuck's picture to remove it from the lower bearing. Once the shaft is out of the lower bearing it is loosely fitting inside the column. You then "take up the slack" and use the longer section of conduit to pull the shaft and the upper bearing out of the column.

Once the shaft and upper bearing are out of the column, you can use some tools to drive out the lower bearing like Chuck shows in his picture. It's just a socket extension and a socket and some other straight pieces of metal to drive the bearing out of the column at the bottom. But you must remove the internal retaining ring at the bottom of the column in order to knock out the lower bearing. There are two retaining rings that locate the bearing in the column- #5 in the parts diagram.

Originally Posted by shinrai

Waking up this post because my steering wheel locks during turns from time to time and I suspect the plastic sleeve on the upper bearing has disintegrated and the parts have fallen into the lower bearing.

Obviously I do not want to remove the column. Life is too short.

Just a thought but has anybody had any luck using a slide hammer to pull the shaft out of the column? If not what size of conduit is shown in the photos above?

TIA

I would suggest you take a look at the actual steering lock mechanism itself if your steering wheel is locking. That plastic material from the upper bearing is rather thin and just falls into the column. I think it's doubtful that the plastic debris would jam the bearing. The bearing is indeed open to the inside of the column. Despite being open it still has a metal "shield" on that side to cover the balls in the bearing.

These open bearings look like this



I agree you don't want to take out the column. Definitely don't go there.

I myself haven't tried a slide hammer on this. But I think it would work because the upper bearing is not a super tight press fit. It can be driven out of the column, and the new one driven into the column, without a ton of force. The upper bearing is a 40mm bearing and therefore the column is going to be a bit larger than that of course. I'm going to guess the conduit Chuck used is thin wall 1-1/2" conduit which has an outside diameter of just under 1-3/4" and that's what allows it to align with the column fairly close.