txturbo
Senior Member
30 AA steering column disassembly
- Thread starter txturbo
- Start date
Joe K
Well-known member
If you have someone "hold" the upper quadrant arms stationary (put a 1/2" diameter pipe over them to afford them some leverage) you can put a pair of vice grips on the small ball ended arms and "snap" the pin holding them to the quadrant lever shaft.
Or conversely you can take off the dirt and grease, find the rivet/pin heads on either side of the ball-arm, grind off one of the rivet heads, and then use a small diameter punch to punch the pin out.
I've done both methods, both work well. I do have some concern about "twisting" the shafts so the first way now seems to me somewhat extreme - but it worked for an early me back in the 1970s.
Or you could buy some replacement quadrant arms/shafts which are good quality and I believe are available in stainless steel which is not original - but keeps their good looking qualities for the life of your children.
Keep that pix above so you remember how it all goes together again. And you may need one spring.
And you will find the adventure of guiding the quadrant arm shafts into place with their anti-rattle collars/rubbers placed as you do it. Prolly want to pick up a new couple of the rubbers as well.
Joe K
Or conversely you can take off the dirt and grease, find the rivet/pin heads on either side of the ball-arm, grind off one of the rivet heads, and then use a small diameter punch to punch the pin out.
I've done both methods, both work well. I do have some concern about "twisting" the shafts so the first way now seems to me somewhat extreme - but it worked for an early me back in the 1970s.
Or you could buy some replacement quadrant arms/shafts which are good quality and I believe are available in stainless steel which is not original - but keeps their good looking qualities for the life of your children.
Keep that pix above so you remember how it all goes together again. And you may need one spring.
And you will find the adventure of guiding the quadrant arm shafts into place with their anti-rattle collars/rubbers placed as you do it. Prolly want to pick up a new couple of the rubbers as well.
Joe K
1crosscut
Well-known member
The pins holding the control arms onto the rods are pretty soft and can be sheared off. Us a small deep socket or nut driver and place it on the end of the rod so it contacts the arm and not the rod. Have someone hold or clamp the rods at the steering wheel and drive / hammer the socket up against the arms to shear the pins.
txturbo
Senior Member
If I loosen the tube clamp at the bottom will the whole tube slide up and off?
pat in Santa Cruz
Well-known member
yes, if the steering wheel and key are removed.
txturbo
Senior Member
Ok...yes the steering wheel is off.....the shaft broke just below it.
pat in Santa Cruz
Well-known member
then loosen the clamp and just pull the column off. It will probably take a little penetrant and some tapping, but it should come right off.
Joe K
Well-known member
Actually, the shaft can be reconstructed. The upper race, bearing, and the entire shaft itself (with the worm) can be removed without upsetting too mightily the "setup."
I would rebuild it. While there seem to be plenty of steering shafts in the world, the number is finite and if you have a satisfactory worm/limited free motion, it might be worth more keeping together as a unit.
Technically, the worm and sector SHOULD wear to a better and better fit - assuming well lubricated and God is willing and the steel don't gall. To introduce a new worm to an existing sector is asking to do a setup from scratch (not a big issue but best done in a bench vise) and hope the wear gods favor you. (some have been known to use bluing and a dremel tool to change worm architecture in a fundamental way to get better or centered lost motion.)
However, not everyone has the time or the tooling to accomplish such a task. You do as you can, I'm sure.
(Heh. Actually in thinking this out, this steering shaft end replacement methodology makes a better repair than the replacement thread kits that the vendors sell to fix broken/mashed threads on the steering wheel nut. I may explore this option on a couple of steering shafts I have which have issues.)
Joe K
I would rebuild it. While there seem to be plenty of steering shafts in the world, the number is finite and if you have a satisfactory worm/limited free motion, it might be worth more keeping together as a unit.
Technically, the worm and sector SHOULD wear to a better and better fit - assuming well lubricated and God is willing and the steel don't gall. To introduce a new worm to an existing sector is asking to do a setup from scratch (not a big issue but best done in a bench vise) and hope the wear gods favor you. (some have been known to use bluing and a dremel tool to change worm architecture in a fundamental way to get better or centered lost motion.)
However, not everyone has the time or the tooling to accomplish such a task. You do as you can, I'm sure.
(Heh. Actually in thinking this out, this steering shaft end replacement methodology makes a better repair than the replacement thread kits that the vendors sell to fix broken/mashed threads on the steering wheel nut. I may explore this option on a couple of steering shafts I have which have issues.)
Joe K
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txturbo
Senior Member
seems like a lot more trouble than its worth. The shaft is broken off below the steering wheel and someone tried to weld the shaft back together unsuccessfully. I bought a complete column/steering box with broken fuel and spark rods.I'm just going to remove the whole tube from the old assembly and put it on the one I just bought. Now I just need to find out how to get the horn button off the steering wheel so I can get that piece of steering shaft out of the wheel.