I'm not following your description well, but I just went through a steering
rack & steering column nightmare, and now all is well that ends well.
Issue number one, there are no inner tie rods available to rebuild racks
with. DO NOT DISCARD usable old steering racks. I happened get lucky and
find a nice one.
Issue number two. The colapsable steering column is a three piece item.
The colapsable pieces are held together with plastic sheer pins, that
frankly after 30 years have or will shear upon dissasembly. This introduces
several points of slop in the steering, and a mystery clunk clunk as you
turn the wheel back and forth.
The rack must be properly shimmed in relationship to the steering column.
If it is just bolted to the crossmember, the steering will feel stiff, with
the possibility of binding, and places extra wear on the pinion input
bearing, the steering column bearings, and the shear pins.
Issue number three, a bent steering column shaft will impart the feeling of
flat spots in the lock to lock rotation of the steering wheel. How does a
steering column get bent? I'm not sure, but I think prying on it to get a
header installed might have had something to do with it.
Trick to reinstalling the three bolts:
Thread long bolts onto the steering column from the back side of the captive
nuts so that they will pass through the holes into the engine compartment.
This will hold the rubber grommet in place, and aid in aligning the holes.
remove one bolt at a time and thread the correct bolt from the engine
compartment.
David Riker
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris King" <cbking@alum.rpi.edu>
To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2006 8:31 AM
Subject: Sgteering column - is it broken?
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