Collapsible Steering Shaft Demystified

cudamark said

I'm trying to figure out the problem with those pin not being there. They really don't prevent the shaft from collapsing in a wreck to any significant extent. So the column without the pins collapses 2" instead of 1 7/8"?

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I'm almost certain that the pins are there because without them the shaft becomes an NVH concern. (Noise, Vibration, Harshness in dealer tech lingo). NVH complaints are probably the number one concern for cars under warranty. When I was a dealer tech, I spent more time than I care to think about driving brand-new cars trying to figure out what someone might be feeling or hearing. People go nuts over the most insiginificant crap.

As shown in the pics above, the steering shaft itself is two pieces - the bottom of the upper section goes inside the receptacle end of lower part. Without the pins/plastic 'insulating' the two pieces from each other, you have metal-to-metal contact which will obviously transmit the slightest vibration from the chassis directly to your hands. That's also why you have an upper column bearing insulator because that's where the shaft is physically connected to the rest of the column.

The shaft mounts in a fixed position between the column and coupler so it has nothing to do with keeping the two halves from moving until a collision impact is severe enough to shove the steering box/mount towards the driver. That's the only time I can think of that the pins are expressly 'needed.'

Mopar used to have a repair kit for broken steering shaft pins but I have not seen one in many years. It was probably for collison shops and not for the general public anyway. Even if you were to find a kit now it would likely be dried up/useless. Best solution is probably to insert nylon screws in place of the broken pins and grind off the ends flush.