Steering

[DOGSTAR]

Hi
Any advice please.
I am having issue when tighening the steering wheel nut, the steering wheel binds badly against housing.
See attached diagram

Thanks

[142 Guy]

Has your whole steering tube moved down / forward in its mounts? I believe the housing / trim is mounted to the dash. The steering shaft is supported in the steering tube by the end bearings and if the tube has moved down (forward) it will bring the base of the steering wheel forward which may result in contact with the trim. Look at the location where the steering tube is mounted in its supports. You may see evidence that the tube has moved in the supports.

On the 140 the steering tube is retained by two U clamps which have rubber cushions in the U clamps which hold the tube. There is a locating pin on the clamp; but, there is still enough slop in the clamp - cushion - retaining pin to allow a fair amount of for - aft movement.

[DOGSTAR]

Hi
Thank you for your reply.
Yes the whole steering has beeen removed, steering box refurbished and a new rubber bush item 35 has been replaced.
Initially i thought the problem was a washer missing item 60 which i have now fitted, subsequently i have replaced the indicator cancel flange item 59 as the original seemed to be a little worn, but neither have solved the issue.
The upper steering shaft is not dictated by the position of the upper bracket 29, column tube 18 and bush 35 as far as i can tell ( i have tightend the wheel with the column tube loose to no avail), you are dictated by the steering box and the lower steering shaft. When you start to tighten, the steering wheel starts to pull the upper shaft which has a spot welded collet which maintains a springs position item 22, the spring compresses pulling the sterring wheel down closer to the plastic couling which again is fixed onto item 18. I have tried additional washers between wheel and cancel indicater switch but this makes no difference. I have sat there behind the steering wheel for hours just looking and thinking, i can only imagine that there must be something very simple i am missing. Prior to me replacing,refurbing items i did have this issue and thought now would be a good time with all parts off to solve the problem, little did i know!

[142 Guy]

You are correct that the steering shaft position is pretty much determined by the connection to the steering box. Which arrangement do you have, the early rag joint or the later break away section? Both arrangement have perhaps unintended possibilities for steering shaft length changes at the mounting splines with the later system having more opportunity for problems. With the later design the typical problem is that it ends up being too long because you can't get the break away donut things completely seated. If you completely disassembled everything perhaps you removed a small amount of original steering shaft length when you reassembled which is now creating a problem at the top end. When I took my 140 steering apart (the first time) I used paint markers to record the spline mounting positions.

The 140 has a similar (not identical) parts #21,22,23 arrangement; but, located at the top of the tube. It also has a similar bearing and race at the bottom' but, no spring. As I recall there is a little flange on the steering shaft that fixes the position of the race. The purpose of the spring arrangement is to apply axial load to the top and bottom bearing races. On the 140 you tighten the steering wheel retaining nut and it compresses the spring which pushes the top and bottom races against the bearing until the steering wheel bottoms out on the shoulder of the steering rod. That spring should never fully compress. Once the steering shaft is bolted up at the steering box end the shaft is theoretically incapable of for-aft movement. However, the spring does allow for a very small amount of positional for aft movement in the column. You have to be careful with this because you do not want to move the column so much that it compresses that spring completely. On the 140 if you pull the column up it compresses the spring; but, on the Amazon it looks like pushing the column down compresses the spring. When I reassembled my steering shaft and column I tightened the steering wheel to the shaft with the tube mounting clamps loose. This allowed the spring pressure to push on the bearing seats and hopefully establish the correct position of the tube relative to the shaft. I then tightened the tube mounts and hoped for no clearance problems between the trim and the steering wheel.

My previous description was slightly incorrect (it has been 4 years since I had my steering apart). On the 140 the trim pieces are attached to the bracket on the end of the steering tube that holds the turn signal switch and on the 140 the OD switch and column lock assembly. So, when you move the steering tube for and aft you are actually moving the bracket and trim pieces for and aft with the steering shaft and steering wheel staying fixed which is not what I indicated previously.

I assumed that your mounting was like the attached picture. Not identical to the 140; but, I assumed that the rubber bush arrangement (part 8) would allow for some for - aft movement of the steering column relative to the steering shaft. Of course, the usefulness of this movement assumes that the trim is attached to the top of the column. If the trim is fixed to the dash moving the column for and aft 1 or 2 mm is of absolutely no use. In that case, I might focus on the positioning of the splines near the steering box to see if that gets you a little more length. The success of all of this will depend on how much extra length you need to eliminate the bind. If you need something like 5 - 6 mm of movement I think something other than the typical Volvo assembly slop is at play. If you think everything lower down is correct, you might want to consider a thicker washer at the base of the steering wheel to move it back. That may be an option as long as those splines are not tapered.

.

[csm22]

Originally Posted by DOGSTAR

Hi
Thank you for your reply.
Yes the whole steering has beeen removed, steering box refurbished and a new rubber bush item 35 has been replaced.
Initially i thought the problem was a washer missing item 60 which i have now fitted, subsequently i have replaced the indicator cancel flange item 59 as the original seemed to be a little worn, but neither have solved the issue.
The upper steering shaft is not dictated by the position of the upper bracket 29, column tube 18 and bush 35 as far as i can tell ( i have tightend the wheel with the column tube loose to no avail), you are dictated by the steering box and the lower steering shaft. When you start to tighten, the steering wheel starts to pull the upper shaft which has a spot welded collet which maintains a springs position item 22, the spring compresses pulling the sterring wheel down closer to the plastic couling which again is fixed onto item 18. I have tried additional washers between wheel and cancel indicater switch but this makes no difference. I have sat there behind the steering wheel for hours just looking and thinking, i can only imagine that there must be something very simple i am missing. Prior to me replacing,refurbing items i did have this issue and thought now would be a good time with all parts off to solve the problem, little did i know!

Since the housing mounts to the flange on the end of the column, you'll need to compress the column somewhat before tightening the two bolts compressing the bushing that secures the column to the dash. Probably best attempted as a two-person task.

Cheers,

Chris

[DOGSTAR]

Hi thanks for your message,
I am going to have another go over the weekend, try a few different things, I have compressed the spring on the column, but will try in a different order.
Watch this space!

[DOGSTAR]

So once again i attempted to fix the issue with the steering wheel rubbing on the plastic couling.
I removed the steering wheel.
Disconnected the upper steering shaft from the bottom steering shaft by removing bolts from coupling bush item 6.
Completly loosened item 18, this then relaxed the spring on the upper steering shaft item 22
I then repositioned the couling item 40 with item 18 so it fits just against the dashboard.
With the upper and lower steering column still seperated i refitted the steering wheel and started to tighten the wheel nut, once again the steering wheel pulls down on the splines, drawing up the steering column and compressing the spring item 22, as the steering wheel nut begins to tighten it is already rubbing on the couling, again i am completly at a lose.
I loosened of the steering wheel and fixed item 18 in position.
This makes no difference other than holding/suppporting the steering column also giving you a small amount of lateral movement for postioning.
No matter what i do the spring item 22 compresses purely by the nature of tightening the sterring wheel nut and the nut drawing the column through item 18.
Any further support advice would be very much appreciated.

[Rustinmotion]

Looks to me that the only thing stopping the column pulling up is the bearing race at the bottom, if there is slack here that could give you an issue, is there any play in the shaft in and out

[Derek UK]

When the steering box was refurbed, was item 3 the lower flexi disc mount pulled off the spline? If it was it may have been pushed back on too far. It is normal for it to be a very tight fit. If you loosen the clamping bolt you should be able to tap it upwards a few mm and this may give you the clearance you need, as the upper section of the shaft will also go upwards when the disc is refitted. If you replaced it did you go for the original multi layer canvas one or the poly one? It shouldn't make any difference if the small metal spacers are the same size.

I haven't heard from Derek B and wonder if you now have the puller?

[DOGSTAR]

Hi Derek
Firstly i have spoken to Derek and i am collecting the puller from him on Saturday, so thaks again for that.
Im pretty sure the yolk item3 is still in the same place i didnt mark it when it went off but will speak to Rob at Amazon cars to see if it was. I may give that a go to see if that helps but i having the upper column disconnected from the bottom column would have the same effect as when i had my last attempt, the column was fully compressed so would not travel any further as the spring compresses against item 21 stopping the upper steering column travelling any further?
I am baffled

Originally Posted by Derek UK

When the steering box was refurbed, was item 3 the lower flexi disc mount pulled off the spline? If it was it may have been pushed back on too far. It is normal for it to be a very tight fit. If you loosen the clamping bolt you should be able to tap it upwards a few mm and this may give you the clearance you need, as the upper section of the shaft will also go upwards when the disc is refitted. If you replaced it did you go for the original multi layer canvas one or the poly one? It shouldn't make any difference if the small metal spacers are the same size.

I haven't heard from Derek B and wonder if you now have the puller?