hot steering column????????

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cudacrazy67

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i have a 73 duster with a 340 in it. hipo manifolds xheads and power steering. my question is this. when i drive the car for an hour or so my steering column gets very hot i mean almost to the point of not being able to touch the column shaft. i can feel intense heat off of it on my legs. now i dont have any firewall insulation in the car and there is nothing touching the shaft in the engine compartment. any reason for this heat or did anyone else have this problem. i just seems the heat is coming up through the shaft and im worried about my wires in the column.thank for any help,mike.
 
hmm... my 68 does not have even the firewall gasket on the plate with headers and ive never had that happen... maybe the "bearing" in the end of the column is gone allowing hot air to travel thru it and heat it up?
 
Originally a column shifter? As above. Look / feel for holes in the column jacket and check the bearing. Exhaust leak?
 
mine gets quite hot...and the firewall is almost too hot to touch.
i think it's the drivers' side manifold and thought about building a heat shield.
 
cudacrazy67 said:
Would that cause that kind of heat? I don't think it has that piece on it.
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lol the giant peice of cast iron make lots of noise... really? you have a 500-1200* manifold/header within inches for the shaft and actual column.
 
71-73 A-Body with a console automatic or 4-speed does not use a lower closed bearing/seal like a column shift 71-73 does or like a 70 floor or column shift does. A 71-74 floor shift used what was called a seal retainer made from white nylon type of material to hold a foam seal inside. This is all the factory used on these years and when the foam fell apart the heat could come up the column jacket as there is room between the white seal retainer and the shaft. Here is some i have on e-bay Mike if you need it just let me know i will give one to you
http://www.ebay.com/itm/STEERING-CO...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item58a3a6d772 seal retainer

cudacrazy67 said:
Would that cause that kind of heat? I don't think it has that piece on it.
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I agree with the above posting. My Challenger had the same plastic piece at the base of the column. The plastic was in good shape but the foam seal was long gone. I had an extra piece of foam from my DMT heater box gasket kit. I made a new seal using that extra foam. The only thing you need to do is center the inner shaft inside the column tube when you tighten the three bolts on the firewall. That way you don't put stress on the foam seal.
 
Wouldn't that melt the wiring harness in the column? I burnt up a set of wires in mine so watch out
 
This is what the factory used in 71-73 A & E-body, as well as 71 72 B-body. I worked on these in a Chrysler garage in 73 when they were new or almost new and never heard of or seen an original factory car with stock equipment burn up the wires in the upper col from the seal area in the lower col jacket engine compartment area but did see plenty of burnt/melted wires from improper bugging of harnesses, loss of contact and incorrect replacement wiring through the years.


car
aarong5 said:
Wouldn't that melt the wiring harness in the column? I burnt up a set of wires in mine so watch out
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