Steering problem after rebuild

[DRACO A5OG]

OP,

I will open mine and show you. Give me a bit of time as I am doing a partial top end right now



I had the same issue when I attempted to use VW Bug U-Joints, they were too long and too weak but same spline receivers.

[Walt Fricke]

The splined shaft ends I am familiar with have a flat, not a groove, for the cross pinch bolt, and that is so there can be some fore and aft adjustment.

I'd slide both shafts until you get them more centered in the chassis trough and see if the interference goes away.

I'm pretty certain that if you can slide both joints so that the angle between the shafts at the joint is the same in the lower one as in the upper one there should be no issues.

[quartetchiang]

Update guys:

So I managed to get the steering column out as well, and found out that the upper steering shaft has some play inside the tube at one end, and it rotates not entirely freely. Friction is more obvious at a particular spot. Could this be the real source of my dilemma? I am hoping by replacing both bearings I'm good, cuz I could not find Pelican listing for sell the entire column assembly...

[Walt Fricke]

Interesting. Your pictures of the external shafts make it look like the U joints were hitting either parts of themselves or parts of the chassis sheet metal (they should lie pretty much centered in their sheet metal troughs).

But now you say that the column (which you removed) has a bind even when the outside shafts have been removed from it.

I don't think the bearings wear out. Just not that much force involved, or that much rotation. Not like engine or wheel bearings, which are spinning all the time. It would be different if the car had fallen into the sea or something.

It is normal for the shaft to be loose where it is closest to the steering wheel, because the stock bearing there has a plastic center piece, and it deteriorates and parts break off, and eventually the shaft can move sideways. The normal fix for this is to push any plastic remnants down the tube, and insert a steel shim. A guy here makes something for this, and there is a VW and, I think, a 928 part which will do this. Basically a wavy semi-circle which can be forced in to connect the shaft with the inner race of the ball bearing - result no more wiggle.

Down inside the tubular housing the shaft has two pieces of steel welded onto its outside. These are for the steering interlock, so when the key is removed, and the steering wheel in the right position, it locks, which deters thieves to some extent.

If there is debris in the steering column, it my act with these lugs to produce a bind. Some say you shouldn't just force the shims I mentioned in without first carefully removing all the broken plastic bits, for fear that this binding may happen. I think most of us have just shoved the shims in and not had a problem, as eventually the lugs will grind any plastic bits to dust.

But you will be able to inspect everything when you have it all apart and can inspect the inside of the column and all parts of the shaft.

[quartetchiang]

Ok guys. final update. All is fine after I put back one of the old u-joints. Apparently the newer updated version does not sync with the old one! During my rebuild I replaced both u-joints, one is of the old design, the other the updated one (see photo). So the culprit is, in my experience out of this rebuild, the updated joint. Or rather, that you can not combine in use both variants. However, whether using only the updated version will work I can not report.

Perhaps this should serve as a bulletin so that more people can be advised of? Or maybe this knowledge is already known, and only I was ignorant of it?

[DRACO A5OG]

Hmm, interesting. When I did the refresh I replaced upper and lower with the updated U joints.

I think most will replace both and not just one as one goes the other follows shortly.

Well, in any case Congrats on the fix.

[javadog]

chris_seven explained the problem with this type of joint. One additional thing that I will add is that if the two joints are operating at different angles, the forces can fail to cancel out when the points are phased the way that should canle out the forces when they operate at the same angle.

I hope the original poster fixed the problem in his column while he had everything apart. I have seen debris from the plastic upper bearing sleeve get lodged in the open side of the lower bearing and be problematic.

If anybpody else has this problem, I have an original column and complete shaft for sale in the classifieds.

JR