How close to disaster,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Barrington]

Hi guys ive just been under the bongo to complete this years waxoil and ive found this,,,,,,,, the steering rod is only around 2mm inside its housing how close have we come to disaster please can you tell me how i can get enough play in the rod to push it all the way back into its housing??? it seems not to want to pull downwards,,,,,,,,, it was nearly completly out of its housing how has this happened??????? its scary to think this was nearly our last journey




Many thanks Barrington,

[bigdaddycain]

Hey baz, I've never touched the steering on any car i must admit, is there any "play" on the shaft if you loosen the steering wheel temporary?

[Barrington]

No play at all,,,, looks like its been out this way a very long time,

[Barrington]

If any of you kind folks can lift your bonnetts and take a peek on the drivers side to see how far the rod pushes in that would be great and maybe post a picture please,

many thanks again Barrington,

[bigdaddycain]

I've just been out and measured my rod So you have a rough point of reference Bro... I'm showing 3 and a 1/2 cm from spline end to mount flange.

That must surely have been the trickiest picture i've ever taken...ruler in left hand,phone in right hand, and a gobfull of torch!

[Barrington]

Ive managed to push the Shaft down into the housing around 1.5inches and put a new stainless bolt into the clamp, hope this is now right,, i have now got around 3.5cm out to top of shaft??????? its a worry how this has pulled through,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[bigdaddycain]

We could do with a few more measurements please people! So we have a fair average of the spline length... It's worth popping the bonnet to have a quick check anyway, steering is quite important! So come on peeps, let's see a piccy of your lengths....

[helen&tony]

Hi
Yep...I'm onto that tomorrow...I had a quick look, and it seems there's a fair bit of spline showing!
Cheers
Helen

[Barrington]

Cheers Helen

[daveblueozzie]

just had a look ,and mines the same quite a bit of spline showing, will try to do a pic.

[munroman]

The shaft has really long splines for some reason, but where the cross bolt goes through there is a groove in it, which the bolt fits into the recess created, so the shaft can't pull out the clamp.

So, as I don't see the grooved part in you picture, it means that your steering is fine, and no harms coming your way!

[Mickymouse]

Just checked mine,nearly 4cm of spline showing

[longhaul8]

just been out to have a look lots of spline showing at the top and around 25mm under the bolt in to the joint.

[Barrington]

Right just an update on closer inspection the bolt i removed earlier today that held the spline in place was worn on the inside just at its middle point it must have been loose and wearing out for a while enableing the spline to work loose and rattle about in its housing and do its worsed on the original bolt, scary really just one of those things i guess,,,, so i changed it for a hardend stainless bolt, this is now on my monthly check list could of been a terible ending but all sorted now thankfully

[daveblueozzie]

i changed it for a hardend stainless bolt,

something else to polish