Steering Column - Serious set back!

[409T]

You don't have a TP/Wintec bucket do you? The steering shaft goes on the box then the column goes over the shaft with a bushing at the top. All that holds it all together is the where the base is welded to the column. If the lock nut comes loose the steering column can lift up and come off the steering box. How is yours held in place?

I have a u-joint that is splined on each end (both female). One end slides over the shaft coming out of the steering box and the male end of the column slides into the other. The reversed Corvair steering box probably isn't going to move, you know how those are fastened, and the steering column is firmly captured at the top and bottom, it isn't going anywhere either. I'm doing this from memory, but I believe that the whole affair is held together by 8 or 9 5/16" or 3/8" bolts. Three for the steering box, the rest to hold the column in place, and all go through either 1/4" aluminum plate or steel. To get all this apart the steering column is going to have to go up in the air at least 1 1/4", and that just can't happen without nearly destroying the car. Nevertheless, what I was trying to say earlier was not that the set screw(s) should be left out, but that if you want to be totally safe capturing the rest of the components well enough that this alone will do the job might be better.

 

[fordsbyjay]

I have a u-joint that is splined on each end (both female). One end slides over the shaft coming out of the steering box and the male end of the column slides into the other. The reversed Corvair steering box probably isn't going to move, you know how those are fastened, and the steering column is firmly captured at the top and bottom, it isn't going anywhere either. I'm doing this from memory, but I believe that the whole affair is held together by 8 or 9 5/16" or 3/8" bolts. Three for the steering box, the rest to hold the column in place, and all go through either 1/4" aluminum plate or steel. To get all this apart the steering column is going to have to go up in the air at least 1 1/4", and that just can't happen without nearly destroying the car. Nevertheless, what I was trying to say earlier was not that the set screw(s) should be left out, but that if you want to be totally safe capturing the rest of the components well enough that this alone will do the job might be better.

I hear what you are saying. IIRC on the TP setup it could lift up just enough to come off before it would hit the bushing in the column. Not a good design at all but I bet it has something do with being more "universal" to fit sloppy tolerances kind of like this case where stuff doesn't line up quite right but can still work.

 

[oscar1955]

My T Bucket is a TP kit bought as a basket case and also did not have a column support. I made a column support out of an exhaust pipe extension/adapter bought at local parts house with proper ID for Speedway column and the other end flared to 2 1/8 to allow for room the steering column joint when installed. I was able to tighten set screws then slide support down column and bolt to floor.

 

[Mike]

Moved from Engines & Drivelines.

 

[AndyMenon]

I have a u-joint that is splined on each end (both female). One end slides over the shaft coming out of the steering box and the male end of the column slides into the other. The reversed Corvair steering box probably isn't going to move, you know how those are fastened, and the steering column is firmly captured at the top and bottom, it isn't going anywhere either. I'm doing this from memory, but I believe that the whole affair is held together by 8 or 9 5/16" or 3/8" bolts. Three for the steering box, the rest to hold the column in place, and all go through either 1/4" aluminum plate or steel. To get all this apart the steering column is going to have to go up in the air at least 1 1/4", and that just can't happen without nearly destroying the car. Nevertheless, what I was trying to say earlier was not that the set screw(s) should be left out, but that if you want to be totally safe capturing the rest of the components well enough that this alone will do the job might be better.

I can't agree with you any less. In my set up, the steering box is sitting at the highest position from the ground, and the U-joint is jammed between the steering column at the top, and the steering box at the bottom. I looked at it from underneath the car, and I don't know how it can possibly move unless
a) a situation such as the one you described happens or
b) the 3 screws that hold the steering column in the mounting bracket fail for some reason

 

[409T]

I must be mistaken. I thought you were talking about the single set screw that is usually in the u-joint.