Ragin Bull

I just got my car back from the body shop.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=332801

When I picked the car up I noticed my steering wheel is real sloppy. (Unfortunately people like to use the steering wheel for leverage to get out of the car!) It can be moved up and down. I'm sure the bearing is shot.

Also my directional can't be lifted up for a right turn signal. (It’s hitting the metal on the column)

I'm going to pull the wheel and play with the directional. Maybe that just went out of wack.


Is replacing the bearing hard? Any tips?
Does the column have to come out? :eek:

Thanks


[Modified by Ragin Bull, 11:09 AM 8/5/2002]

TheOman

No big deal. All you have to do is pull the wheel. I just did the job. Pull off after you mark it so you can be sure you return it to the same relative position it was in before, (you need a puller) back off the bolts that hold the column to the dash. Now feed the wires that hold run the signals up thru the column till you can remove the mechanism for the turn signal switch from the column.

I bought a new switch mech cause mine was so brittle I broke it in the process outlined above. Sounds like your is broke already so I guess you wont fell as dumb as I did. All I need (when I started was a new bearing) but by the time I was through I needed a new switch. I REUSED my original wires on the new switch which came complete from ZIP with a wire harness. It just looked too much like work to feed the new wires down thru the column. Oh yeah the switch comes with a bearing from ZIP for (ouch) about $60.00 total. I checked prices and this is in line with other dealers.

Ragin Bull

Oman
"No big deal" Thats good to hear. I thought I'd have to remove the column to get to the bearing.
I have a wheel puller but do I need something to remove the bearing. (is it compressed in)?

Thanks
Ed

Viet Nam Vett

Well that's good news.. Oman.. My upper bearing is also shot and has about 1/2 inch of up and down movement. Sometimes if I push to hard on the wheel when turning or pulling myself up in the seat the horn blows.. What a pain.
So do you think I should order a whole new turn sig switch too as it comes with the upper bearing?

My turn sig has to be held down in the left turn position as it sometimes will not lock on.

TheOman

To remove the bearing you need your index fingr and your thumb. Thank God man evolved the opposed thumb. Oh Oh I gotta be careful! I live in the South. Evolution is a bad word down here.

All kidding aside. All you do is push the old bearing out and reload the new one. The bearing sits on a little shelf inside the mechanism that cancels the signal lights after you complete a turn. The wires I mentioned earlier just plug into the switch mechanism and snap in place with a plug that holds all the wires and makes one quick easy connection. Well that is how it works on the switch before the ham fisted Oman breaks it. Not to worry like I said a quick $60 or so and I was A-Ok in the signal light department.

You are NOT going to be impressed with the new bearing. It is the crudest thing I ever saw. Kinda like Russian engineering. It works though, again just like Russian engineering, so I guess you cannot fault it. Something a little more sophisticated would have spoken well for GM design engineering but what can I say?

Viet Nam Vett

Thanks Oman... You Da Man....... :flag

TheOman

Thanks but I am really not "Da Man". I just seem to be able to blunder into things and somehow put it all together later without any extra parts left over. Must be something I got from my Grandfather. My mother told me you could dump a pile of mechanical pieces in front of him and he could put it together even if he did not know what the end product was supposed to do.

He was a tool maker / machinist and WAY after he retired at almost 70 the company President would call Gramps back when there was something they could not figure out at the plant. If Gramps was up to going in they sent a car to pick him up and drive him home. She made a point of telling me it was never a cab but rather the Presidents own car! Sometimes the Pres. his-self picked Gramps up. Gramps background was all just OJT and included no engineering school, no technical school, no nothing just what he learned in Germany as an apprentice working his way to being a journeyman. He ran the entire tool making department for his company when he retired. Pick your ancestors well as they say.

Honestly just about a month ago I was asking if the column had to come out to pull off the same repair. Once I knew it did not have to be removed I was ready. When I read the manual and run into "Use Ken-Tool NN-NN-X" and I just shiver. I never have had any of those tools and that really is where I freeze up. The old "Special Tool" stuff stops me right in my tracks.

64BB

guys, there's 2 kinds of loosemessof the steering wheel. first is the excessive "play" when you turn the wheel. i suppose that makes the car wander a little on the highway. i have that and am waiting for a new steering box, that i am pretty surte will cure that problem.
however, the other type of looseness is wiggle that happens when you grab the wheel with both thands and jsut rock it up and down or side to side, kinda like you do with the rear wheels to test the u-joints etc.
that type won't be affected by the new box.
last night i installed a new upper bearing. crappy is too good of a description. even the russiand would hate this upper bearing. still, it is stock an i the best i can get.
however, i am convinced that i can get rid of that type of looseness with the leather bushing i described earlier. i got flamed for the suggestion, but i am going to do it when i have to remove the column to put in the new steering box.
even with the new and correct bearing, there is about one half inch of wiggle, and that is just what i had with the old bearing. i hate that wiggle, and i'll report back on the bushing project.

Denney

64BB, obviously you had to pull the steering shaft when you replaced the bearing, did you check for wear on the steering shaft? I have seen (first hand) a groove worn into the shaft by the bearing (both on the upper and lower locations). Sometimes the only thing to do is have a new steering shaft pressed in. Just wondering... :confused:

TheOman

Why are you removing the column to reload the steering box? are you putting in some other non stock config. box??? With the stock box alll you have to do is slip the rag joint coupler back toward the firewall, reinstall the box and reattach the coupler.

Ragin Bull

Great help Oman

I'll be checking Zips online cat shortly..

Thanks
Ed :cheers:

Ragin Bull

Oman
Do you happen to have the item number for the kit you described from Zip? I can't seem to find it on there on line cat. I called in ,and they told me it's #es209 but $75 Since I don't have a catalog, I can't see what I'm buying. Is that the right kit?
I just want to make sure i'm getting the binker system and the bearing.

Thanks :cheers:

FRAC

You might want to pull it anyway to inspect the steering shaft for wear.

Mine was loose and in fact had a little popping in it. Wasn't too disturbed, but when the column was pulled to get at the dash, to get at the bottom of the emergency brake, to replace a shim or something, the bottom bearing was bad, and since it was all out anyway, they pulled the shaft, and where the bottom bearing had been bad, almost a quarter inch groove had been worn in the shaft. There was still a lot left, but it makes you wonder how much longer it would last.

New one is backordered, so we had to have the old one welded and ground down smooth until the new one comes in. It has been backordered over two months now. Most people didn't even have any prospects of getting one in.

Hope this will be of help.

Frac :) GB

64BB

denny, i did not remove the steerng shaft to replace the uper bearing. i just popped the old one out. there is simpley a lot of slop in that upper bearing, and that bothers me and makes extra noise that i do not want. years ago, i used a leather bushing for the upper end of a steering shaft and the result was dramatic. tight but smooth turning action with no wiggle of the shaft; also less noise.

for the oman, i mis-spoke. i will remove the shaft when i pull the instrument cluster, not when i replace the steering box. thanks for pointing that out.