2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Steering column lower bearing fix comment

[Denis]

I too have the steering column looseness in the lower bearing of my '97. Had it since about 50k miles; and it's very annoying. After reading about the bushing several years ago; I had a serious reservation about this repair.

Most journal type bearings use a softer material like babbit, bronze or brass for the stationary surface; with a steel, even a hardened steel, rotating shaft. Engines, air compresser and turbine shafts are pressure feed oil for lubrication; yet in many cases the shafts will show scoring and severe wear where the babbit is hardly worn.

It the case of the lower steering column for our Dodges, the original bearing has a wearing surface fixed to the outer column and another wearing surface fixed to the inner shaft. The wear takes place between these 2 surfaces as we all well know.

Using the nylon bushing fix posted recently makes the shaft itself one of the wearing surfaces. Hence the situation mentioned above. My concern is wearing of the inner shaft (with a possible loss of steering in an extreme case) and the inability or difficulty in checking exactly how much wear is taking place on the inner shaft.

Any body measure the thickness of the inner shaft?? Is the inner shaft hollow or a solid shaft??

Any comments?

 

[SnoKing]

What makes you think the nylon bushing would wear the shaft???? SNOKING

 

[Bob4x4]

Why don't you contact Dbazley and see what he has to say. He came to one of our wrench days and seemed like a stand up guy.



Bob

 

[hamilton71801]

I'm new over here but I will tell you my story. I replaced the bearing with the nylon bushing and it worked perfectly until it got cold outside (less than 50 deg). When it got this cold, the steering would get very hard to turn and it would be so tight that the truck would pull itself out of gear during a turn. I posted my problem on another forum and a guy that had experienced the same thing told me to take it back off and sand the inside down some with sandpaper. I pulled it out and low and behold, there was a grove on the inside. I sanded it with 180 then 1000 grit (actually 500 would have been the ideal grit but I didn't have any). I lubed it back up and now it works like it should until the temps get around 20 deg. I think I will leave it alone now because we don't have that many days like that around here. So far I'm happy with it and it did make an improvement in my handling.

 

[Denis]

Not sure if the bushing would wear the shaft or not. Just suggesting it might; and if it did it might cause some seriuos problems. Posted to get ideas and more info.

 

[JPittinger]

I've had some similar thoughts about the way this fix could wear parts. I've decided to make the bushing in 2 parts- outer nylon sleeve to press fit into the stationary side. I have a teflon sleeve to slip over the steering shaft and inside the nylon. Waala! the wear surface is not on either of the factory surfaces. Let me know what you think. -JJ

 

[Denis]

2 Sleeve fix

Something along the lines of what I was thinking. Is the teflon sleeve over the inner shaft a press fit; if so, how did you get it on and how tight is the fit? Also what is the clearance between the 2 sleeves?

Another problem I just realized about a sleeve type fix. The original bearing provides radial as well as axial support for the inner shaft. A sleeve type fix does not provide any axial support hence the shaft is free to move up and down inside the outer tube. Any tightness in the intemediate shaft would be transmitted through the shaft to the upper column bearing.

Anybody know what type of bearing this is?