sharkthehunter77

Discovered the pulley on the power steering resevior or pump or what ever it is was badly cracked. I have decided to just live with the lack of power steering ( drove dads chevy truck without power steering as a teenager) I just need to know if this will hurt anything in the long run? I'm sort of a gym rat and if this is harmless then i can appreciate the upper body work out!

LiveandLetDrive

I did this for a couple months when I first had my car last year. I also did it at the dragstrip last week. The big difference between these 2 was draining the fluid, if you take it out, it's fairly similar to normal manual steering, but without it drained, it's as hard as hell. I don't think you're hurting anythign at all.

-Chris

MotorHead

I had to replace the rag joint when I drove around for some time without power steering. Don't know whether it was normal wear or not. Someone with more knowledge than me can answer the question whether the rag joint on a power steering car is different than a nom power steering car.

I do know there is much much more stress on the joint as that joint is now turning the wheels instead of the power steering ram ( or whatever if is called ) , anyway there was a lot of play in my steering after a few months. :D

ddecart

There should be no harm in driving it as a manual steering car.

Rag joints...lemme think here. There were 2 designs used by GM. One had 4 or 5 plies and the other 7 or 8 plies. The one with more plies was stiffer and I believe it was the only one used by GM on Corvettes. Or something like that anyhow. Jim Shea gave me the lowdown a while back. I think I have the jist of it correct.

Doc Rebuild

Sir:

On a 1963-1982 Corvette this can break parts and even cause an accident. You should never drive around with a damaged or disconnected PS component. The increased effort required to steer puts an undue strain of the steering column coupler flex joint (i.e. rag joint), the collapsible column and the break away mounting nuts. The more modern C3's (i.e. 1977-1982) have two large break away mounting nut that are engineered to break free in a collision. The particular force or torque required to break them free is such that I had a customer who broke them by driving his Corvette while the PS was broken. Although those break away nuts are "glued" on, I have never heard of them being re-glued as a matter of recommended factory service. Therefore the mast jacket from a donor must be obtained for repairs as this part has not been serviced by GM parts for many years. And to be honest, any used Corvette steering column part may already have hidden damage that you could exacerbate.

Geoffrey Coenen
NCRS #2473
NCM Lifetime #105
Precision Valley Corvette Museum Charter Member #20 (I think)
Retired #1 56, 63, 67, 68, 68, 69, 75, 99 and I want more! :D
Wanted: 1969 L-89 conv (no project)

ddecart

Thanks for the input Geoffrey!

Couple questions though:
Isn't the rag joint common between PS and non-PS cars? If it is, the load on the rag joint from the lack of PS should be no different from that on a non-PS car. Well, the one difference is steering arm hole that the tie rod end is mounted in. PS cars without PS should have more load in the steering system because they have a shorter steer arm length.

And where exactly are the break-away nuts? I'm wondering what in the column was meant to break away. It would have to be under a frontal impact sort of load, I'd think so is it related to the collapsing of the column?

Jim Shea

All of the Corvette steering components, (i.e. steering gear, flexible coupling, steering column, etc) were validated at manual steering loads. The above listed steering parts are the same regardless if power or manual steering. You really shouldn't have a problem driving without power steering. However, the components were never tested with 30 year old rubber flex coupling discs. I can imagine that some of the rubber components such as the disc can wear out faster under manual loads.

As for the steering column mounts failing, again, the parts and mounting were validated at manual steering loads. However, since Geoffrey has actually seen failures like the ones he described, then the 30 years of aging on the mounts etc might be the cause.

BTW, the aluminum capsules on the column mounting bracket had plastic injected into them to lock them in place; eliminate rattles; and prevent any looseness. Under a severe frontal collision, the plastic would shear and the upper column could slide forward away from the capsules. The capsules would remain with the vertical mounting bolts.