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Steering column top bearing


tea boy

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Holy thread resurrection...

Well, I finally ended up replacing both the upper and lower bearings on my 88 3.2 without removing the steering column from the car. I used information gleaned from the pelican thread referenced above as well as the parts diagram. I used some ali tubing I had in my scrap metal box to make the puller to remove the steering shaft from the car. I bought the upper bearing from Porsche and bought a closed bearing from a bearing supplier for the lower bearing. Here's roughly what I did to install them..

In the passenger compartment…
Remove the steering wheel
Remove the circlip
Remove the circular retaining ring on top of the upper bearing

In the luggage compartment...
Disconnect the battery
Remove the main carpet section
Remove the cardboard cover over the ventilation system
Remove the fresh air blower
Remove the plenum
Remove the black plastic cover over the steering shaft upstream of the smugglers box. The term speed nut clearly only applies to their installation, not removal.
Remove the 4 pinch bolts on the 2 universal joints of the steering shaft and extract the steering shaft with its 2 UJs from the car. This is a good time to confirm there’s no play in the UJs and that they pivot freely.
Remove the external circlip on the bottom of the upper steering shaft.
Lubricate the splines on the steering shaft, the intermediate shaft and the shaft to the steering rack and re-install the intermediate shaft so that the upper shaft doesn't turn when you go to pull it out.

in the passenger compartment
Put the key into the ignition and turn to the first detent to unlock the steering. You can turn the ignition off again but don't remove the key.
Using the short piece of tubing and suitable washers pull the upper steering shaft out of the lower bearing. You’ll need to move the shaft about 12mm to pull it out of the lower bearing.
At this point it will be loose in the steering column. Use the longer piece of tubing to pull the steering shaft the rest of the way out of the column removing the upper bearing with it.

Back inside the luggage compartment...
Remove the large internal circlip that is retaining the lower bearing.

Back inside the passenger compartment...
Use the steering shaft to carefully drive out the lower bearing. This doesn’t need much force but to protect the threads on the upper steering shaft screw the nut back on and either use a plastic mallet or a block of hardwood or a brass drift; don’t hit the bare shaft with a steel hammer! And don't be tempted to drive the bearing out with a socket the size of the bore; there's an upper circlip in the way.

so now it’s all apart and it’s just a simple matter of putting it all back together. If only...

Back inside the luggage compartment...
to install the new lower bearing I used a piece of 30cm M10 threaded rod and a suitably sized socket to make a “puller” to pull the bearing until it was up against the upper circlip inside the column. I also put the bearing into the freezer for a couple of hours to make things a bit easier.
reinstall the lower internal circlip  inside the column to keep the bearing in its place
reinstall the upper steering shaft from inside of the car, gently driving it into place in the lower bearing. Easy does it; you don’t want to damage the freshly installed bearing. I again put the shaft into the freezer for a few hours and did the reinstall an hour or so after installing the lower bearing so that it could get back up to temperature. It's a snug fit in the inner bearing race so took a bit of force. As before protect the threads on the steering shaft.
reinstall the external  circlip that prevents the shaft from moving within the lower bearing.

back in the passenger compartment...
liberally lubricate the plastic sleeve of the new bearing and its outer surface and then tap it into place. I ended up using an M20 washer with the inside ground out to roughly 22mm and a long 28mm socket. It needed a surprising amount of persuasion
sit back and spin the steering shaft and marvel at how there's no play!
reinstall the retaining ring and the circlip

back in the luggage compartment...
put the UJs back onto the intermediate shaft. Note how the intermediate shaft has notches to allow the pinch bolt to pass through - line the UJs up so that the pinch bolts are exactly perpendicular to the notches.
reinstall the intermediate shaft again noting the notches in the steering shaft in the column and the shaft going down to the rack.
Once you're satisfied that everything is centred reinstall the 4 pinch bolts.
reinstall the steering wheel and take the car for a short test drive to see that everything feels correct/normal.
Assuming it is go ahead and reinstall the cover over the intermediate shaft, the plenum, the blower and the cover.

Or just buy the Mitch Leland bush from pelican! Or use Ivan's method of just using the sleeve from a new bearing! The above was a ball ache. Satisfying but still a ball ache.


 

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