manual steering box coupling

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69340

69340

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Hi All- Anybody out there had problem with manual steering box coupling. I cannot get the seal cover to stay on without clamping a washer behind the seal cap. I have ordered a wire cover but have not recieved it yet. I went to our local car show last week and had to pull a tight u turn to park . had a huge scare as the steering wheel spun . No steeriing!!. found that the collumm had collapsed and the shims all came out of the coupling housing. I had a new kit to rebuild the coupling and i have put it on and installed the new seal and new cover and put a washer and clamp on until the wire retainer arrives. Has anybody out there had this problem and has anybody tried the replacement coupling from flaming river industries.? they are exspensive is there any other suggestions.
thanks
 
Well that sucks, my cover wouldn't stay on as well. I ended up using vice grips to hold the steel bracket over the rubber and "lightly" tack welded the four corner tab onto the coupler. I think you will be fine with a hose clamp until your new part arrives. So your saying...your two pins sheared inside the column tube?? Never heard of that happening on it's own without forward pressure...Hummmmmm. Good Luck.
 
the pin goes through the steering rod with a shim on either side. the whole thing came out when i turned the tight corner. I put vise grips on the rod and you can hammer the steering rod in or out . I suppose this is how it collapses in a collision? I am glad i was going slow.
 
I would trash that factory coupler and buy the Flaming River coupler. I did and wow, what a difference. One thing to watch out for when you install it is; their instructions tell you to remove the column and cut 1.5" inches off it. If I would have done that without measuring first I would have ended up with a steering column .75 inches too short. Measure your set-up first before you cut anything off the column, don`t just cut 1.5" off your column as the instructions say. That aside I highly recommend this part ,it really tightened up things nicely.

IM000210 (Small).JPG
 
Longgone said:
I would trash that factory coupler and buy the Flaming River coupler. I did and wow, what a difference. One thing to watch out for when you install it is; their instructions tell you to remove the column and cut 1.5" inches off it. If I would have done that without measuring first I would have ended up with a steering column .75 inches too short. Measure your set-up first before you cut anything off the column, don`t just cut 1.5" off your column as the instructions say. That aside I highly recommend this part ,it really tightened up things nicely.
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i agree.. the flaming river joint is alot nicer then that factory junk..



just that cover being loose shouln't make the entire joing fall apart... there is a little pin that is suposed to be in that prevents the joint from falling apart.. the cover is really only to keep the dirt and water out of the joint..
 
69340 said:
the pin goes through the steering rod with a shim on either side. the whole thing came out when i turned the tight corner. I put vise grips on the rod and you can hammer the steering rod in or out . I suppose this is how it collapses in a collision? I am glad i was going slow.
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Got ya now! I thought you ment that your (two) pins inside your "upper" steering tube sheared which allowed your steering shaft to slide up and out of your coupling. In your case...yes, your best "now" and for safety is to do a correct repair and get a completly new lower joint as stated. :salute:
 
Thanks for the posts guys. that flaming river coupling looks way more secure and looks better. So you had to remove the entire steering column to do the
install? and cut off the original shaft. I cant tell in the pic how is it fastened to the shaft on the column. Do you mind asking what you paid as i only saw it on their website and have not phoned one of their distributors here in Canada. You guys were right about the small pin on the old coupling it is supposed to hold the guts from sliding out. I found mine inside the coupling
buried in the grease. I have driven in a bigger pin for the time being. I just looked on the website part # fr 1505p-ss / $199.00 is that what you paid?
 
69340 said:
Thanks for the posts guys. that flaming river coupling looks way more secure and looks better. So you had to remove the entire steering column to do the
install? and cut off the original shaft. I cant tell in the pic how is it fastened to the shaft on the column. Do you mind asking what you paid as i only saw it on their website and have not phoned one of their distributors here in Canada. You guys were right about the small pin on the old coupling it is supposed to hold the guts from sliding out. I found mine inside the coupling
buried in the grease. I have driven in a bigger pin for the time being. I just looked on the website part # fr 1505p-ss / $199.00 is that what you paid?
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You may be able to do it with the steering column in the car but it would be very difficult. To install the coupler slide the coupler over the steering column shaft and drill a hole through the column and the back side of the coupler. Once that`s done you drive a pin through the coupler and shaft which holds it all together. I bought mine from Summit Racing, I think it was $129.00 for model FR1506 (manual column to manual steering box) , but you may find it cheaper if you shop around. If your dealing with a power steering gear or column it may be more as well.
 
I don't think you could match drill the sector shaft with the precision required unless you removed the column and held the cut sector shaft in a vice.
 
Longgone - I have one of those couplers and plan to install it soon. When you say you measured and cut off less than what they recommended, what measurement did you take to determine how much to cut. I certainly dont want to cut off too much. Your advice is greatly appreciated !
 
I am not Longgone :salute:
But, you should have the direction with the coupler. That being said, you are required to cut several inches off the sector shaft. I believe I mocked up the steering column while it was installed and determined how much to cut off. I then disassembled the steering column and cut the sector shaft with a die grinder. Then placed the cut shaft in a vice and match drilled the coupler. I also salvaged a spare sector shaft before I cut the original shaft just in case. Good Luck (by the way, I still have the spare sector Shaft (early A Body just in case :sad1: )
 
66dartgt said:
Longgone - I have one of those couplers and plan to install it soon. When you say you measured and cut off less than what they recommended, what measurement did you take to determine how much to cut. I certainly dont want to cut off too much. Your advice is greatly appreciated !
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Like Blues65 said, once you`ve removed the old coupler you can mock up the new one in place. You should be able to remove the old coupler by loosening the steering column and backing it up. (Not actually removing it at this point.)
From that point you can slide it back into position and (by holding the new coupler beside it) see approximately what you need to cut off the column. You`ll want as much of your steering column in the corresponding side of the coupler as possible without it sticking out into the jointed area. You`ll also want the steering gear side of the coupler to be fully slid on so that the coupler`s pin can be inserted. I ended up only cutting about 3/4 of an inch off my column ,versus the 1.5 inches that the instructions say to cut. There`s room for some give or take there but the closer you can get it, the better. With a mock up you should get very close to the optimum position. HTH.
 
Okay - so you pulled the column up and removed the stock coupler and slid the column back down into position and measured it with the flaming river coupler on the box - and compared the dimension to determine the amount to cut off - got you - thanks guys. Glad I did not do what they suggested.
 
66dartgt said:
Okay - so you pulled the column up and removed the stock coupler and slid the column back down into position and measured it with the flaming river coupler on the box - and compared the dimension to determine the amount to cut off - got you - thanks guys. Glad I did not do what they suggested.
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That`s it, and if it`s like mine you`ll see that 1.5 inches is too much to cut off. Then again, I haven`t seen two of these cars exactly the same. Let us know how it goes.
 
Update - Installed the flaming river coupler this evening. Ended up being 3/4 inch as the dimension to cut off. Thanks a mil for the advice guys.

At that amount it gives the coupler max engagement onto the shaft without interfering with the u joint. By the way, on my column there was a 3/16" gauge hole used to line up the old coupler in the shaft, it matched perfectly with the 5/16" inch hole in the coupler, so I used it as a pilot hole for the 5/16" drill for the roll pin.

Did any of you feel that the roll pin was a little under engineered ? I thought about installing a 5/16 shoulder bolt instead.

Thoughts - comments ?
 
66dartgt said:
Update - Installed the flaming river coupler this evening. Ended up being 3/4 inch as the dimension to cut off. Thanks a mil for the advice guys.

At that amount it gives the coupler max engagement onto the shaft without interfering with the u joint. By the way, on my column there was a 3/16" gauge hole used to line up the old coupler in the shaft, it matched perfectly with the 5/16" inch hole in the coupler, so I used it as a pilot hole for the 5/16" drill for the roll pin.

Did any of you feel that the roll pin was a little under engineered ? I thought about installing a 5/16 shoulder bolt instead.

Thoughts - comments ?
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Glad to see you got it on without a lot of trouble, .75 versus 1.5 is a big difference. They should consider rewriting their instructions. Having a pilot hole already drilled for you is quite nice, what`s the chance of that happening like that? The roll pin may have been used intentionally, as the fused part of the system. In the event of an accident where the front wheels may get turned to one side then the other, it will shear rather than have a wrist or arm broken from a steering wheel spinning violently. Have you had a chance to drive the car with the new coupler installed? It should feel much better.
 
Hey longgone - I see what you mean about a shearing action. No havent driven it yet, in fact the last time it was driven was 13yrs ago. Its been sitting in the garage while I was restoring my 73 sport. Then took a 3 year break and worked on the house etc.

Started working on the 66 about 3+ years ago. Inching my way along as it were. My plan was to have it running 2 summers ago - haha. Now its this summer, but thats not so much of a stretch where it is now. It needs brakes bled, exhaust, radiator, carb, underhood wiring - coil, ignition, plug wires etc before it can run. Other than not having seats, half the window seals and carpet in it - the interior is mostly done. But who needs nice things like carpet and window seals. LOL !
 
66dartgt said:
Hey longgone - I see what you mean about a shearing action. No havent driven it yet, in fact the last time it was driven was 13yrs ago. Its been sitting in the garage while I was restoring my 73 sport. Then took a 3 year break and worked on the house etc.

Started working on the 66 about 3+ years ago. Inching my way along as it were. My plan was to have it running 2 summers ago - haha. Now its this summer, but thats not so much of a stretch where it is now. It needs brakes bled, exhaust, radiator, carb, underhood wiring - coil, ignition, plug wires etc before it can run. Other than not having seats, half the window seals and carpet in it - the interior is mostly done. But who needs nice things like carpet and window seals. LOL !
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That`s the best AND worst thing about these cars, they`re never done.
 
Well I went ahead and got the Flaming River coulper From Summit Racing,For a power stearing unit. Put it on over the weekend. I also had the 3/16 hole . I cut 7/8 off mine so I could use the small hole as a guide. I buffed the coulper out nicely be for finial assemely. will take it out in a day or so still working on the stainless steel fan shroud. have it all cut out and fit just need to buff the top out and bolt it on . did these 66 barracudas come with fan shrouds or was mine taken off and lost?
 
nicoles said:
Well I went ahead and got the Flaming River coulper From Summit Racing,For a power stearing unit. Put it on over the weekend. I also had the 3/16 hole . I cut 7/8 off mine so I could use the small hole as a guide. I buffed the coulper out nicely be for finial assemely. will take it out in a day or so still working on the stainless steel fan shroud. have it all cut out and fit just need to buff the top out and bolt it on . did these 66 barracudas come with fan shrouds or was mine taken off and lost?
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Flaming River does make a good part there, I think you`ll like it once you`ve tried it out. I believe fan shrouds were used on the A/C cars.
 
nicoles said:
Well I went ahead and got the Flaming River coulper From Summit Racing,For a power stearing unit. Put it on over the weekend. I also had the 3/16 hole . I cut 7/8 off mine so I could use the small hole as a guide. I buffed the coulper out nicely be for finial assemely. will take it out in a day or so still working on the stainless steel fan shroud. have it all cut out and fit just need to buff the top out and bolt it on . did these 66 barracudas come with fan shrouds or was mine taken off and lost?
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My 66 273 Valiant came with a shroud. Some did not come with them.

I gotta get a coupler now. I have a rebuild kit for the factory stuff but it looks like a pain in the ***. Would rather spend the duckets for something nice. Thanks for the tips

Dave
 
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