Monday, October 20, 2008

Steering bushing replacement

The steering was really loose when I first got the car. The steering wheel could be turned pretty far before anything actually connected. After reading up on the problem I thought it might be the steering coupling bushings. I ordered them from the dealership and about 10 days later the bushings arrived from Germany. Next came the task of taking my coupling out and replacing them. It was a pretty easy job, only took a couple hours. First I strapped up the steering box to the brake booster so that when it was unbolted, it wasn't going to fall down anywhere. Next I unbolted the 3 bolts from the drivers wheel well that bolt into the steering box.
These are shown here (When I did this job, I didn't take the wheel off, this is just a photo showing the bolts):

I didn't have any carpeting in, but if you do, you'll have to pull up the drivers floor carpeting around where the steering column goes into the firewall. Then unbolted the steering column plate that's bolted to the firewall. Pulled it up on the column so I could access the pinch bolts on the coupling. Then I loosened the pinch bolts on the coupling. Now came the hard part. You have to wiggle the coupling off the steering column and the steering box. You have to make sure that you mark where the coupling is coming off the spinals so that it can be put exactly where it was taken off from. If its not placed back on right, your turn signals wont auto cancel correctly. Here's a shot of my coupling once it was free from the car:

A close up of what was left of my bushings, nothing really:

Here's the bushing all cleaned up and new bits ready to go in:

The bushing were pretty easy to get in, but then had to be compressed to get the cotter pin threw. I then wiggled this back on to the steering column and onto the steering box. I tighten up the pinch bolts and then torqued the steering box bolts. Then bolted the base plate of the steering column back on.
Close up of coupling back in:

No steering components had to be taking off or touched, so it was a pretty simple job. Only tools needed were:
-Socket wrench
-Torque wrench
-Rope (to hold the steering box once it was unbolted)
-17mm socket (for steering box bolts)
-6mm allen key (for coupling pinch bolts)
-10mm socket (for steering column base panel)

No comments: