Collapsible Steering Shaft Demystified

[Dana67Dart]

If the coupler is in good shape, it can't happen. There are pins that keep the sliding shoes from coming out

There is a childs toy. It is a stick with notches on it.

There is a propeller of sorts in the end, if you rub another stick across the notches the propeller turns one direction then if move the stick slightly differently the prop rotated the other way.




Vibration, forces, all kinds of things can happen.

 

[Big.J.007]

Why would anyone discard a good shaft.. Just drill and tap where the pins broke and use nylon bolts to reinstall.

 

[Mattax]

67-69
The shafts in my comparison of ps vs manual are 67 and 68 no visable difference except for the length

Thanks.
The '67 columns have a plastic collar. lemme see if I can find the pictures

 

[Big.J.007]

That's the lower bearing.. the shear pins are between the 2 shafts upper and lower where they taper into a square shape

Thanks.
The '67 columns have a plastic collar. lemme see if I can find the pictures

View attachment 1716466036

 

[Mattax]

I could be miss remembering, I thought '67 had some differences. Looking through the How to Rebuild discussion, the lower bearing is 2.25" so it uses a different bearing than later. '68 -69 might be the same.
There are some differenecs documented here
Steering column rebuild 67 barracuda

 

[Dana67Dart]

The '67 columns have a plastic collar. lemme see if I can find the pictures

I agree the coller on the shaft would prevent full withdrawal as long as EVERYTHING is working correctly

 

[Dana67Dart]

I could be miss remembering, I thought '67 had some differences

The column is different, bigger od in 67. But the shafts are the same. The floor mount is also different due to the column od.

68 up inside a 67

Lower

Upper

 

[mopowers]

Why would anyone discard a good shaft.. Just drill and tap where the pins broke and use nylon bolts to reinstall.

That's pretty much what I've done. Just stretch it out to the proper length, drill through the injection holes, tap in nylon machine screws, and trim them flush.

 

[Dana67Dart]

I have to ask though, what year is this column from Dana, as '68, 69, 70 B bodies are nothing but a hole drilled right through each piece that line up and get the injection of plastic, the injection you said you didn't think was correct in the previous thread. Glad you took the time to reassure yourself I wasn't blowing smoke

The shaft i cut up was 67-69 A body, and I don't think you are blowing smoke. But the 67-69 did not have through holes. it has a recessed area around the inner shaft. Plastic is injected in the outer shaft holes, fills recess and comes out the holes in the other side of the outer shaft. It locks the two shafts together and fills the space for anti rattle and probably assists in sliding after the pins shear.

 

[townsend]

67-76 Abody shafts are all designed the same in that area.

 

[dadsbee]

The shaft i cut up was 67-69 A body, and I don't think you are blowing smoke. But the 67-69 did not have through holes. it has a recessed area around the inner shaft. Plastic is injected in the outer shaft holes, fills recess and comes out the holes in the other side of the outer shaft. It locks the two shafts together and fills the space for anti rattle and probably assists in sliding after the pins shear.

68/69/70 B body are 2 holes straight thru.... I haven't taken an A body apart, but figured they'd be the same.

 

[rmchrgr]

Coincidentally, I have been working on the column from my ‘71 Duster. I had rebuilt it (for the third time) but when finished it was making a scraping noise up top when turning. The shaft was collapsed and the lock collar was worn out and wouldn’t stay locked so I decided to replace the shaft with another one I had.

I did try to separate the two halves of that one first to see if I could re-pin it but gave up because the plastic wouldn’t allow it. I tried hammering the outer lip of the lower half with a 5/8” crow foot socket on an extension, I tried melting the plastic with a torch and all sorts of other dumb stuff but it would not come apart. It was pitted at the bottom anyway so it’s junk.

The other shaft I had was also collapsed but I was able to separate the two halves on that one fairly easily. See the pics below.

IMO the shear “pins” are not actual pins but merely excess material that stays in the injection holes after the troughs are filled. It’s easy to see how they would break without much effort because they are more like drops than a machined pin. I have no doubt that over time the plastic dried out, shrank, became brittle and then it was only a matter of time until the pieces separated.

This is the bottom of the upper half that gets inserted into the female end if the lower half. There are no “through” holes in these recesses so again, there really are no pins in the traditional sense. You can see the remnants of the plastic, it’s similar to nylon.

Lower half Injection holes.

I’m not sure what year the shaft I separated was but has to be ‘70-down because there is no lock plate pin bore. it’s otherwise identical to a ‘71.

I would actually like to know what length a ‘71 manual steering shaft is supposed be so I can try and use this good one. I’ve read 40 5/8” end to end but I can’t find anything “official”.

 

[Spadman]

I found some pictures on another forum of the old pin repair kit.

Did that post include the length chart that’s in the instructions?

 

[Dana67Dart]

68/69/70 B body are 2 holes straight thru.... I haven't taken an A body apart, but figured they'd be the same

I haven't taken a B body apart but I assumed they would be the same as the A bodies.

It goes both ways

 

[Dana67Dart]

I did try to separate the two halves of that one first to see if I could re-pin it but gave up because the plastic wouldn’t allow it. I tried hammering the outer lip of the lower half with a 5/8” crow foot socket on an extension

I tried that too on the shaft I'm ultimately cut up.


What I found is that the bulge on B can not get past the crimp on A

I agree the "pin" is not a pin by strict definition but it is cylindrical and locks the outer and inner shafts together

 

[oldkimmer]

New safety rules were mandated for 1967. First year for the collapses le steering column. Along with other safety precautions. Kim

 

[Spadman]

Did that post include the length chart that’s in the instructions?

Found it. Looks like the Figure A and 17 1/8 dimension applied to most.

 

[Spadman]

Here’s a link since that didn’t post clearly: https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...1518/filename/5890546-SteeringShaftRepair.pdf

 

[rmchrgr]

Here’s a link since that didn’t post clearly: https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...1518/filename/5890546-SteeringShaftRepair.pdf

Cool, thanks for that.

What I found is that the bulge on B can not get past the crimp on A

Yeah, you're right. I was able to separate my extra one fairly easily but forgot that it wouldn't go back in without filing that area on the bottom down. The plastic does stop it at first but if you can manage to get the upper part far enough out of the lower half you can force them apart. After beating on the first one the lip of the lower half got trashed so that one is never coming apart.

Not sure how I'm going to reassemble the one I separated. Since the original plastic is still relatively intact I might glue it back in place to prevent rattling. Maye silicone/rtv/JB etc. in the recesses and a small amount on the bottom area that was filed down could work as well.

As long as the shaft is still collapsible in an accident it's probably OK not to go through the effort of trying re-pin it. Once installed in the car it really can't move anyway (especially since I have a u-joint instead of a pot coupler) unless an impact forces the steering gear toward the driver. The shaft will still collapse without the "pins" so it's sort of a non-issue.

 

[Swinger 340]

It's not as if these pins are rubber and fully separated the upper and lower shafts. They're hard plastic and only in a couple of places. The rest is metal to metal between the two shafts with maybe a thin layer of lube between them. If anything, the pins would help transmit vibration rather than relieve it. With a sliding coupler down below, it's not likely to transmit much in the way of vibration anyway. Now an A100 van would be a different story. The have a solid center shaft that goes directly into the steering gear.

The columns are made to collapse in a frontal collision, so the steering shaft must do the same. I knew the shaft slid but did not know about the plastic or nylon pins. The early vans shafts were at a different angel then the cars. In a frontal crash, I would think the steering column would not go into the driver but more or a flat hit onto the side of the column.

 

[Dana67Dart]

I knew the shaft slid but did not know about the plastic or nylon pins

back in the day I adapted 2 different tilt columns to make one for my 56 Ford F100. The ford version used metal spring clips inside the shaft. that made it easy to remove one shaft from one car and swap it with another shaft. I needed a longer steering shaft so I used the upper part from one car Granada???? and the lower from an LTD???? to get the wheel I wanted and the length I needed. I do not recall any mechanism to prevent the shafts from moving on each other but ford at that time used a rag joint

 

[Woody500]

I would be VERY tempted to drill through one and stick a BRASS 6 or 8-32 screw and lock nut in there

How about long aluminum Aircraft Rivets. They'd shear right off as intended, as would brass. Rivets swell & fill right sized hole when squeezed.
Aircraft Spruce And Specialty in Chicago has them, and the correct shape rivet tools if you need them.
Welded back together, you could pour epoxy resin filled w/graphite into void. The combo makes a slippery surface.

 

[Dana67Dart]

I found some pictures on another forum of the old pin repair kit. Snap rings are for 1970 tilt columns only. Basically looks like a bottle of spray glue and a tube of Loctite

That's very interesting and a bit surprising. Seatbelts are supposed to be changed after an accident, I would have thought the same of a steering shaft.

 

[Dana67Dart]

Here’s a link since that didn’t post clearly

in case the link goes dead. (The image "A" is a bit ambiguous, BUT on my 68 manual steering shaft, it does line up well, at about 17 1/8 +/- from the end to the first plastic plug)

 

[townsend]

From technical service manual :
Number 70 - 19 - 5
A repair kit part number 3514996 has been released which will enable field personnel to effect repairs to accidentally collapsed steering shafts.
Note: Shafts that have been collapsed as a result of a collision "MUST" be replaced.