Getting Birel R32 steering column centered

This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 1 month ago by Steve Libretto.

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- July 23, 2013 at 12:41 am #4545
  
  Stephen barthelmass
  Participant
  
  it sounds like eitheryour tightening the bolt on the bottom of the steering shaft too tight. You have a bent steering shaft or a seized uniball bearing. If the steering shaft is hitting the uniball housing when turning the wheel then something is definitely bent.
- July 23, 2013 at 2:12 am #4550
  
  Troy V Smith
  Participant
  
  Typically, I would install the uni-ball end first, then set and tighten up the nylon bushing. If your column is tight in the uni-ball, you should have plenty of “free motion”, in the shaft to line it up with the bushings up top (as Stephen says – as long as the uni-ball isn’t junk). I would think you’d see a bend in the steering shaft if it were bent, but sounds like your best bet is to loosen up everything, and set it all in place without tightening things up. Get everything lined up and free – then try tightening it up from there. See how that goes for you…
- July 23, 2013 at 8:34 am #4556
  
  Cosmin Negul
  Participant
  
  Thanks for the responses guys. To elaborate a bit more, nothing is tightened at this point, nylon and uniball are both new. Steering column is not bent as everything was lined up before I took it all apart. Here are some pictures to help clear things up: http://imgur.com/a/boazf
  
  As you can see the column is aligned a bit left of the uniball, making it sit at an angle if I put it inside the uniball, causing it to bind on the left side of the nylon. Hope that makes sense.
  
  Thanks again for your help.
- July 23, 2013 at 8:49 am #4558
  
  Benn Herr
  Participant
  
  Cosmin,
  
  You will need to put a slight bend on the two steering uprights. The right side back a little and the left side forward. It won’t take much – just enough to get the end of the shaft pointed at the uniball.
- July 23, 2013 at 10:19 am #4564
  
  Troy V Smith
  Participant
  
  Yep, pictures are worth a lot. Guess I’d do exactly what Benn is thinking. Seems odd that the uprights would require a tweak, but the column may have been in an “unknown” bind before you pulled it out – This leads me to wonder why you had to change the uni-ball and bushing in the first place – were they worn?
- July 23, 2013 at 10:40 am #4568
  
  Cosmin Negul
  Participant
  
  Uniball had a lot of play in it, I thought the nylon also had play due to being worn but it turns out it isn’t supposed to be tight on the shaft. I’m learning.
  
  Once I loosened everything and started moving the clamps off the uprights the column started binding up. I marked the position of the clamps and put everything back together but I wasn’t able to find the position in which everything lined up smoothly.
  
  I will try what Benn suggested and will report back. Thanks
- July 23, 2013 at 9:42 pm #4678
  
  Cosmin Negul
  Participant
  
  I did what Benn suggested and it worked out great. Took very little to get the uprights in the correct position again.
  
  Everything is back together with fresh parts. There is still play in the shaf at the nylon. Is this normal? Also, I added a locking collar under the nylon since it was missing, is there normally another collar on top as well?
  
  Thanks everyone.
- July 29, 2013 at 10:57 pm #5289
  
  Steve Libretto
  Participant
  
  Cosmin,
  You may want to loosen the pinch bolts on the support that holds the nylon also. It looks like it is cocked a bit with the right side being higher then the left. Could just be the way I’m looking at the pictures, but I would at least check to make sure it level.
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