Steering column

[dasadrew]

When I dismantled my steering column, the tube (NSS in the pic) fell into two parts (inner and outer). The two tubes were effectively free to slide up and down inside one another. Several bits of thin plastic/metal bushes fell out of the tube which had apparently been bearing surfaces between the inner and outer tubes.

As the internal bits aren't listed, I ordered and just received a new tube assembly from Rimmers, but the outer and inner are locked together (dowelled?). The whole assembly is fixed solid.

Question:

Are the tubes supposed to slide in and out of one anotheri.e. do I have to remove some transport or assembly "plugs" from my new tube assembly or is it"glued" together with paint and stiction?

Is the sliding function just for collapsing the column during a crash?


Thanks

Drew

[V8 Rumbler]

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I too am very interested in this thread. The two parts of my tube have movement and I feel there ought to be a bush or something to hold them together:?

Darren

[jleyton]

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V8 Rumbler wrote:

I too am very interested in this thread. The two parts of my tube have movement and I feel there ought to be a bush or something to hold them together:?

Darren

Ditto :shock:

[Banny]

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Hi

yes the tube should slide so that you can adjust the reach of the steering wheel.

I rebuilt mine last year and you require two of the bushes ref 153040 which sit in side of the tubes to let them slide. Mine was solid when I took it out but once I got it apart and cleaned up it is now fine

Tim

[dasadrew]

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I don't believe it! When mine fell apart, I went on the Rimmers site to see if I could get those bushes. They were NLA, so I ordered a column.

Just checked the site again and now they are available !!!! They are pictured in a frog green wrapper too, so I KNOW I would have seen them if they had been available.

Now it seems like I can rebuild my old tube, but still doesn't explain why the new reconditioned one is solid. I'll give it a whack with a plastic hammer - perhaps it really is just stuck together with paint.

[V8 Rumbler]

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These look really naf- what would be required to fit them?

Maybe a piece of waste pipe could be split opened so it fitted over the lower section and 'drifted' up!!!

Any thoughts?

Darren

[stustag]

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Hi All

If anyone is interested I have a good S/Hupper column available for the right money?

As regards the little shims were they oblong with a hole in the center of them?

Stuart

[dasadrew]

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I've just been out to the garage and am, again, utterly shattered over the miserable quality of Stag recon parts.

I gave the tube some light taps with a rubber hammer and the inner tube started to budge. First of all, it shattered the lugs which you can see on the above nylon bearings. Now that they were destroyed, I decided to take the tubes apart to see what on earth is going on.

The inner tube was covered in a mixture of swarf, metal filings, paint overspray, plain old grit, and a dawb of grease, The bearings were completely bonded to the INNER tube with this mess, so that the first thing to give was their spigots holding them in placeon the outer tube, hence the column is now scrap.

They are supposed to be located and pinnned to the outer tube, and the inner tube slides within them.

Are those bearings in the above pic the Rimmer spares? :shock:

[V8 Rumbler]

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dasadrew wrote:

I've just been out to the garage and am, again, utterly shattered over the miserable quality of Stag recon parts.

I gave the tube some light taps with a rubber hammer and the inner tube started to budge. First of all, it shattered the lugs which you can see on the above nylon bearings. Now that they were destroyed, I decided to take the tubes apart to see what on earth is going on.

The inner tube was covered in a mixture of swarf, metal filings, paint overspray, plain old grit, and a dawb of grease, The bearings were completely bonded to the INNER tube with this mess, so that the first thing to give was their spigots holding them in placeon the outer tube, hence the column is now scrap.

They are supposed to be located and pinnned to the outer tube, and the inner tube slides within them.

Are those bearings in the above pic the Rimmer spares? :shock:

No these are the ones that Robsport sell on e-bay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230441037725

Either that of the local primary school kids are not too good at sawing yet:?:?:?

Darren

[dasadrew]

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They've got more flash than a Bikini Atoll A-Bomb explosion!

[DJT]

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The ones sold by James Paddock aren't much better:

Dave

[StagnJag]

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V8 Rumbler wrote:

dasadrew wrote:

I've just been out to the garage and am, again, utterly shattered over the miserable quality of Stag recon parts.

I gave the tube some light taps with a rubber hammer and the inner tube started to budge. First of all, it shattered the lugs which you can see on the above nylon bearings. Now that they were destroyed, I decided to take the tubes apart to see what on earth is going on.

The inner tube was covered in a mixture of swarf, metal filings, paint overspray, plain old grit, and a dawb of grease, The bearings were completely bonded to the INNER tube with this mess, so that the first thing to give was their spigots holding them in placeon the outer tube, hence the column is now scrap.

They are supposed to be located and pinnned to the outer tube, and the inner tube slides within them.

Are those bearings in the above pic the Rimmer spares? :shock:

No these are the ones that Robsport sell on e-bay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=230441037725

Either that of the local primary school kids are not too good at sawing yet:?:?:?

Darren

Eight quid as well, flipping heck!

[V8 Rumbler]

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StagnJag wrote:

V8 Rumbler wrote:

dasadrew wrote:

I've just been out to the garage and am, again, utterly shattered over the miserable quality of Stag recon parts.

I gave the tube some light taps with a rubber hammer and the inner tube started to budge. First of all, it shattered the lugs which you can see on the above nylon bearings. Now that they were destroyed, I decided to take the tubes apart to see what on earth is going on.

The inner tube was covered in a mixture of swarf, metal filings, paint overspray, plain old grit, and a dawb of grease, The bearings were completely bonded to the INNER tube with this mess, so that the first thing to give was their spigots holding them in placeon the outer tube, hence the column is now scrap.

They are supposed to be located and pinnned to the outer tube, and the inner tube slides within them.

Are those bearings in the above pic the Rimmer spares? :shock:

No these are the ones that Robsport sell on e-bay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=230441037725

Either that of the local primary school kids are not too good at sawing yet:?:?:?

Darren

Eight quid as well, flipping heck!

Not only are they eight quid----
but that is each!!!!!!!

That is why I asked the question as to whether a piece of waste pipe
1 1/4'' couuld not be cut, split and used some how if it were 'drifted' in

Darren

[dasadrew]

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Looking closer at my Rimmer exchange, the very fragile plastic bearings are inextricably bonded to the INNER tube with a combination of hardened grease and age it seems. The plastic shells are nothing like the ones posted here, so the recon must have been done ages ago when the original shells were available.

Thought......

- the bearings could be fixed to the INNER tube
- the bearings only act asbearings when you adjust the column, don't they?
- the bearings could be a copper sleeve or whatever
- the bearings just need to be well greased so the tube doesn't lock up
- not sure if this would maintain the full range of column adjustment depending on where the bearings are placed

How about something like a camshaft bearing (not Stag, obviously). It could even be slightly small I/D than the shaft. Just split it and push two of themon to the shaft. Bond it with superglue. Could even be pinned into position with a small dowel. A small gap in the circumference shouldn't matter. If the outer diameter is a bit too large to fit into the tube, it could be turned down on a lathe.

Alternative 2: Could this be a very reasonable little SOCTFL project? Just requires a run of correct sized bearing shells to be turned on a lathe.


Alternative 3: Strips of copper bonded along the AXIAL direction onto the inner column (imagine it looking like it has splines), grease well and insert into outer tube. I reckon that would be very good with respect to a "solid" feeling to the column too.

[elvimto]

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I rebuilt my steering column last year it was pretty much stuck solid, I used a part ease spray and worked the tubes to free them up and yes I also ordered the very expensive bushings which were crappy to say the least I could have made them out of teflon round stock and pinned them or glued them in place
I added a piece of teflon pump packing to the end of the lower tube to keep out dirt etc not a hard job but the bushing parts could be better also they are a bit of a pain to fit and and one of them did tear when I put the tubes back together.

Stuart