steering column shear pins

[Charger72SE]

I replaced the innards of the steering column coupler and while trying to get the coupler back on the power steering shaft, I unintentionally collapsed the steering column (don't ask!)

so now how do I line up the holes where the plastic pins were?  how long is the inner steering shaft suppose to extend past the firewall plate?  attached is a picture showing where the holes are now.  how far about in either direction do I go?

also, is there a trick to getting the steering column & coupler back on the power steering shaft?  I don't want to go through that again!!

[RD]

well, you can drill a hole through both and put a bolt in there, not really safe.

to align the shafts, the inner shaft has two grooves that were cast so that the plastic that was inserted inside of the two shafts would harden and hold the inner shaft in place at the correct placement.

what you need to look for are those two grooves and center your outer shaft and then find a way to hold the two in place.  silicone will work, but will take a VERY long time to dry.  It would be nice if there was some type of liquid plastic out there, but I have yet to find it.

let me know if this helps or you need more clarity.

[RD]

here is a picture so you can see an inside view.. sorry for the rudimentary drawing.

the red is the outer shaft over the inner shaft (grey).  the grooves are situated just as seen and when the plastic filler was injected in there it held the two shafts together when dried.

[Charger72SE]

many thanks, RD!

I guess I'll have to slide the shaft until I see plastic instead of metal through the holes to be around the right length

thanks again!!

[Chatt69chgr]

I am wondering why one would need to do anything about these shear pins.  If the purpose of the inner shaft is to provide a collapsing feature in case of a front end collision, then why would you need to put the plastic back if it has been sheared.  I can see that if the column was put together as a subassembly at the factory, you wouldn't want the inner shaft sliding out while installing it in the car.  But otherwise, it seems like it could be loose and it wouldn't matter.  I am probably missing something here.

[scottdidit]

The reason to repair this is to prevent the lower shaft from walking to far into the coupler. It can cause premature wear in the coupler.

[defiance]

so if one were using a pair of u-joints and shaft (such as in AlterKtion) instead of the stock coupler, it shouldn't matter then, right?

[scottdidit]

Correct, the little bit of force should not be an issue for a u-joint, assuming this is a needle bearing style u-joint.

[defiance]

Cool   My car 's shaft was "loose" when I got it, I thought it was supposed to be that way until I read this thread 

[Rolling_Thunder]

I have disassembled the column before, melted the old plastic with a torch and then reassembled them...    Then I used some molten plastic and poured it in the holes...    seems to work just fine so far...   

[John_Kunkel]

Ma forsaw this problem and offered a kit to repair the shafts after the plastic rivets sheared.

[scottdidit]

John Kunkel
  Wow I've been around steering columns for 24 years and i have never seen that kit... is it an adhesive or an epoxy?

[1972Rallye]

Would it be possible to use a nylon bolt to hold the shaft in place? You could trim the head off if needed and it would work just like the plastic.

See here (toward the bottom):

http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/steering/9.html

[ITSA426]

How about filling it with a hot glue stick and let it cool?

[RD]

Ma forsaw this problem and offered a kit to repair the shafts after the plastic rivets sheared.

now, do they still sell them

[b5blue]

I wonder if it's "Lock-tight"? 

[John_Kunkel]

now, do they still sell them

I'm sure the kits went NS1 long ago but they're available from some NOS vendors:

http://www.bradsnosparts.com/inventory/partDetails.asp?pid=8609251&startNumb=3514996&psize=

[RD]

thanks

[Nacho-RT74]

YEAH RIGHT but BradsNosParts is not a regular dealer... I think question is still around... Can you still get it around ?

I think some substitutes could it be invented though

[scottdidit]

 OK somebody asked about hot glue... tried that and as soon as the glue hits the cold shaft its all over... I did not trust this method. Now that i think about it ... maybe preheating the shaft to say 100 degrees and then injecting the hot glue might work. you would have to tape off both sides of the hole wile waiting for it to cool.

Tell ya what.... I have all the proper test stuff here and will try this over the next couple days and will report back the results.

[66FBCharger]

 

[scottdidit]

OK guys follow along... But first understand this..." I will not be held accountable or liable for the results of this test. It is neither recomended nore suggested that this is safe. This could be dangerous and or deadly.

The scope of the test is to repair a sheared collapsible shaft from a steering column. It has been suggested that Hot Glue may be a solution.
So here we go...
Test 1
I used a standard off the shelf hot glue gun and glue from a hardware store.

I cleaned all components with laquer thinner and dried with a rag.

I aligned the two halfs of the shaft together and put the tip of the glue gun on the hole and filled the shaft till the glue came out the other side. This was way to easy. I let the part cool for 15 min. and then put in press to test holding force.


The part flailed as soon as i put pressure on it. Hmm

[scottdidit]

So i took it apart and noticed the fill was not complete. So...
Test #2
I determined that the best way to get a good fill was to obstruct the exit hole. So i held a piece of papertowel over the exit hole. This seemed to be much better although it was really hot on the fingers!!!
I then retested the pressure in the press. BINGO!!! got a reading. This time i got 1400 lbs. of force before it let go.

I repeated this test 3 times. I got different readings every time. They varied between 500 and 1400 lbs. each time. Each time the glue filled different and the more fill you could get the better the hold.

Ok guys heres the issues...
The calculation for the ammount of force recomended by the government comes to approx. 550 lbs. Since i had so much variation in the test parts this does not seem feasable or pratical and in fact could be very dangerous. You dont know how well you did till you test it, so there is no way to know if its right.
This was perfected by the Big Three and they had percision injecting machines that not only could put the material in under pressure but also could verify quantity of material used. This prevented a short fill and thus garenteed a consistant fill.

I would say this myth is busted

[1972Rallye]

Awesome work!  Thanks...

[66FBCharger]

Does anyone know the material originally used for the shear pins?
Maybe you could get a piece of round plastic stock, install it in the holes and melt both sides to hold it in place. That could work. Of course it depends on the material used.

[RD]

scott,

your inner shaft looks really different than the ones I am used to.  is that one you manufacture or what year did it come from?

[b5blue]

They may have injected it with the shafts heated? 

[scottdidit]

As some of you may know the steering columns that were collapsible were made by Saginaw Steering Gear. GM and Chrysler both used this supplier for there columns for many years. Saginaw had to keep the designs slightly different for each company so on the GM version it is done as pictured and on the Chrysler version there was a ring all the way around without a hole drilled thru the center part. I think that may be the difference you are refering to. They both perform the same.
  Im guessing the material is Nylon but it could be a polypropaleen.  I have always wondered why you could not get a plastic stick for your glue gun and use it for plastic welding.... this might be the answer to the problem. However there would still be issues getting a good fill in the joint of the shaft.

[b5blue]

They make a "welder" for plastic bumpers, my friend had one 20 years ago, very expensive and a pain to use as there are many "types" of plastic used.  I was thinking maybe they used suction on one side also? Who knows! 

[RD]

well i wanted to do a test to help this and bought a NOS steering repair kit from bradsnosparts.  learning experience number one:  adhesive was not in tube, left the tube and found a new home in evaporation land, and primer that came with the kit was well.. TOAST.  so, the OE repair kit solution cannot be tested at this time.  I went with RTV black and will call it good.  erring on the side of safety since the shaft will be held at the top by a retaining clip and the bottom by the bearing and gear box coupler.

[1974dodgecharger]

bumping this great info....