Steering pieces not fitting together right

[leethegeek]

I have it as far as it will go in the direction I need, I think i'm going to have to take apart the steering column.

[swedishandgerman]

I've not done this job personally, but have read many, many times people getting very frustrated about this job on a late Amazon. However, once done properly it's a doddle!

It appears that it should be as simple as whacking in the new rubber components then bolting it back together again. But it's not that way. You have to take the whole lower steering column shaft out of the car, place it in a vice and hammer the sleeves that holds the rubber piece out of the hole that the 'pins' of the upper shaft fit into; that's the bit that is showing itself and not fitting in place in your first photo.

Once you have removed those metal sleeves from the holes, you place them onto and over the rubber pieces and compress them over the pins. Then, you reassemble with the rubbers and sleeves on the pins instead of locating them inside the sleeves and trying to make the pins go into the holes if you see what I mean! I guess you need something like a g-clamp or similar.

As per the attachment showing an illustration of a brand new 140 lower shaft, you can see the sleeves that I am referring to;

http://www.cvi-automotive.se/en/arti...er-140-nla-nla

The sleeves are the new, shiny bits of metal that fit over and around the rubber components.

If I remember correctly, you only have to go through this process on the 2 bits that join the upper shaft to the lower shaft. Looking at the photo of how the lower shaft is connected to the steering box, the rubber parts have successfully gone inside the sleeves without the necessity to remove them.

Personally, I would resist taking the very lowest part (splined) off of the steering box for fear of ruining the alignment.




Additional info:

I just noticed for late Amazon (similar to 140 steering column) you can get normal rubber replacement parts from CVI instead of the PU parts that you have bought. These appear to include the metal sleeve:

http://www.cvi-automotive.se/en/arti...z-68-2-per-car

[Derek UK]

Looking at the pictures again I'd be tempted to fit the upper joint first, I note there is a gap between the column and the sleeve above the joint which just shows a bit of the spring. This distance looks to about the clearance needed. It may then be possible to wind the bottom join in with the nuts.
Looking at the books there appears to be 3 types of this column but with different coupling methods. The early Amazon and maybe early 140 only has the pop out joint at the top rather than 2 similar ones on the later cars.