So do y'all think.....

[Weaver]

the PO stacked a new upper steering shaft bearing over a failed one?

Since everyone is avoiding the "Mitch Leland's Steering Wheel Bearing" post like the plague, I needed to start a new post. Please see pics below:

This is how I found it once I removed the steering wheel and C clip. There was no star washer to be found. '88 Carrera

Update: so the bearing is alittle tweeted in the bore, I measured.153" from the top of the bearing to the housing at 12 o'clock and only .134" at the 6 o'clock position. And the bearing will not budge. I tried to drive it back into the housing with a socket the diameter of the bearing and a mallet, and it wouldn't budge a bit.

It is cold here in Indy, about 35*. I wonder if I need to heat the housing up to help the bearing slip in. Anyone with a suggestion is welcomed.

So do any of y'al think this might be a bearing on top of a failed bearing? I'd read where there are some really lazy mechanics that will do this, instead of removing the failed bearing.

Went through all of the PO's paperwork given to me 13 years ago, haven't found any "steering wheel bearing repair" yet..

Thank you for your time...

Thoughts?

[voron]

oxy mapp set up. tiny, super hot flame on inner race. drill some holes in outer race for something to grab with coat hanger

[dlagerstrom]

Weaver,

The Mitch bushing is actually the interface between the shaft and the upper bearing. If that bearing is snug on the shaft by itself, it is not the original and I would guess somebody put it in over the top to fix an exploded plastic bushing. If it were me, I would drill holes into the outer frame of that bearing and get it out of there.

Best of luck.

[KTL]

That looks like a bearing on top of a bearing to me. The reason you can't drive the bearing down any further is because the later steering column tube has a flange/stop inside it.

Here's some contributions I made a number of years ago

Steering column bushing ordered...any tips?

And here's a REALLY smart solution by Chuck.H to remove his bearing without taking out the steering column

Steering shaft removal w/o removing column!

Here's a recent post about the bearings

Steering wheel bearings revisited

And here's a thread that talks about how the 928 sleeve seemed like a good idea at the time but now is proving to not be a good long term solution

problems arising with metal steering bushing

[MBAtarga]

Edit: KTL posted as I was typing.

I think you nailed it:
So do any of y'al think this might be a bearing on top of a failed bearing? I'd read where there are some really lazy mechanics that will do this, instead of removing the failed bearing.

From my understanding, removal of the original bearing requires removal of the steering column - which is a rather cumbersome job.

[Weaver]

Update:

So it was a bearing on a bearing.....

So for anyone doing a search for Upper Steering Shaft Bearing Removal and their bearing looks like the one above, its easy...

1) Remove either the turn signal switch or the wiper switch. You will need one of these out (depending if you are righty or lefty) to get a square attack on the bearing.

2) NO NEED FOR HEAT. My column was Indiana Feb. cold, mid 40's in my garage. Reason why no heat? There is SO LITTLE of the second bearing engaged in the column bore. And its not a very tight fit, small interference. If you look close at the second bearing hanging on the column, the faint grey line is the depth of its engagement, or about .110". Leaving .180" out of the bore, perfect for....

3) using a pair of 10" Vise Grips, model CR10. These are the ones with the curved jaws.
Just clamp the vise grips around that b!tch and rotate it out. No scaring on the column bore.



Clean everything out and install your Mitch Leland Bushing.

[Weaver]

Thank you for everyone that replied to this thread. I appreciate it.

[KTL]

Nice!

[Weaver]

Hey Kevin!

I wanted to thank you for your column removal thread from a few years ago. I .PDF'd it and put it on my garage iPad and was all ready to go, was just about to order the tamperproof bolts.

I was just laying in bed, thinking to myself, "what are the chances someone put a bearing over another....."

Anyway... thanks for your write up. Great work.....

[KTL]

No problem. Great to see you avoided all the hassle of removing the steering column.

But if you did have to get out the original bearing, I highly recommend folks do what Chuck H. did and get some suitable pipe material to fashion a puller sleeve. I'll repost in bolt italics of what Chuck did

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.