Fevre

Going to adj it again today and I wonder if not having the plastic retaining pin for the lower shaft might be causing some of the issues since it allows the shaft to move in and out. Anyone else running without the pin?

bobs77vet

I'm not sure what pin you are talking about....when i did my upgrade i read that replacing that lower bearing was a critical piece of the puzzle and that any slop down there would cause some sloppiness.....if its binding i would think the heim joint needs to be teweaked a little and look for any of the set screws hitting the frame . you should be able to take all the binding out.

Fevre

There is a plastic retaining pin that keeps the lower column from moving in and out, it is plastic so it sheers in case of a collision when the frame drives the steering box back and thus pushes the lower colum back, if the shaft was solid the upper steering column would be driven into the driver. Since the lower column can mover in and out I am wondering of that counts as slop and thus does not allow for a true adj leading to binding. Can you move you lower column shaft in and out?

And yes I did replace that plastic bearing when I did the install.

Fevre

Well after 3 hrs of adj I think I got it right, the triple joint does not like 45 (+_15) deg angles, the joint rubs against itself, poor design in my opinion


I was trying to get as flat an line as possible but the triple was rubbing against itself, once I increased the angle of the bend of the triple it stopped

bobs77vet

no i can not move my shaft "in and out" it only rotates....sounds like a bad sex dream....anyway sounds like you are on the right track but i would want that shaft to be "wiggle" free

BBShark

45 degrees? U-joints (which is what the Steeroids setup uses) do not like angles greater than 15 degrees. In traditional machine design, you can get away with 30 degrees for a lightly loaded joint with infrequent use.

Look at U-joint design guides. At 45 degrees the angular velocity and power transmission changes tremendously. If you have to use angles this steep, make sure your joints are "phased". Above all, I would try to reduce these angles, it does not sound safe.

stingry

FEVRE,

I had to relocate the position of the middle adjustable hiem bearing bracket. The way I did this was to remove teh bracket off the car, cut of the 90 degree peice that holds the centre hiem bearing then put everything back on the car without rewelding the 90 degree piece. I then moved the shafts and the bearing around till I found the location of least binding. It ended up with a slight angle difference from where it was located before and I also had to move the hole about an inch further out. I made up a protoype then tacked it in the location. Pulled it all apart again (gets old real fast). Welded it up with some decent 1/4" steel then put it back together again. It was not a difficult process but a small PITA. It shoud fit from the factory but you know how that works. By doing this procedure you get the smallest angles on the universals and least binding. Pics are below. If you need more IM me.

Pete









Here are some pictures.

Fevre

There is very side to side or up and down (360 deg) movement but the shaft will move in and out (towards the front and rear of the car). Ya I guess does sound like dirty talk.

Drove it around and it is much better with no notchy feel at all now. I was thinking it was a binding problem but the joint is actually rubbing against itself. I still am not sure why the joint is designed to rub against itself if held at a certain angle, I would think it should operate (or at least not rub) through out the joint travel. A little more ginding on the saddle area where it is ground from the factory would eliminate it.

Fevre

It is a double joint, called it a triple joint earlier. Says it is good up to 60 degrees. Expensive little sucker @ $169.

turtlevette

Are you confident that you have it adjusted so that you will have steering under a variety of driving conditions? I'm waiting to see who with a rack setup wrecks frist.

Fevre

I am now.


Can you wait quietly until it happens?

bobs77vet

are you sure its seated far enough back? what i mean is should the top of the joint be furhter up the steering shaft? mine does not touch itself....(more dirty talk)

Fevre

Bob

If you look at the 2 pictures in the Steeriods instructions I had mine like the first picture but flatter, I had the heim joint extended until it almost touched my headers thinking that flatter is better but as I stated before that angle allowed joint to rub against itself. I now have it like the second picture now except the middle joint is inline with steering shaft instead of the intermidiate shaft. MUCH better. If you ever pull that double joint off, run the joints through their full range of motion and you see the middle section rub against the outer sections but if you move it 10-15 degrees either way it does not rub.

bobs77vet

i used a BFH on my headers and had to give it a little ding so it wasn't touching...glad it came ok.

Twin_Turbo

everytime I see that input shaft setup I get the chills...

Fevre

I have to admit that I am not impressed with it but since it is power assisted it takes almost not effert at all to turn the wheel when the eng is running. I think a second heim joint for the intermediate shift would really help.

I would not use it for a manual rack set up or auto crossing/road course racing but for street use I think it will be fine IF adjusted properly.

mrvette

I wouldn't bee too nervous over that triple jointed input shaft arrangement, the worst I ever seen was 4 of them on some car I forget what it was in the junkyard when I was scavenging parts for my rack conversion....

triple joints were fairly common, in fact....

but on general principles, I did mine with two joints, had to change headers even on my SB in order to do that, also cut the rear lower flange of the driver's side engine mount horn, but mine is smooth as silk and never has bound once in about 5 years, allmost...

GENE

Cobaltblue 72

I finished my rack install a couple of weeks ago on the '72. It went very smoothly and I am very happy with the feel and steering. I had some binding, but i pulled back the steering shaft to allow the unit joints to move freely without binding. I posted pictures of the install a couple of weeks ago that may help you.