Steering Shaft Collapse Question - 1 Plastic Pin Missing

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Steve69Fish

Steve69Fish

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I recently disassembled the steering column in my Barracuda. It turns out that the column was a manual steering column-shift where the previous owner just cut of the various linkages off the shift tube when a Tremec T5 was installed with floor-shift.

When I disassembled the column, I checked the plastic Sheer Pins on the steering shaft and noticed that one is still there and the other is gone, however, looking into the hole in the shaft where the plastic should protrude for the missing one, I do see plastic behind it, so I believe it is still centered over the race on the shaft that is full of the plastic to provide friction and control the rate of collapse. There is nothing visible on the small holes on the opposite side of the shaft.

Has anyone encountered this before with only 1 pin gone?

What is general opinion on whether all is well, I should try to just create a new pin with hot glue, or scrap it and get another shaft?

I forgot to go out and get a picture last night, but will try to get a chance to take and post one later.

Thanks all.
 
I just drilled out the broken pieces in mine and superglued new nylon screws in their place. Worked out just fine. You could use it as is if you'd like as well. No need to junk it if it's not damaged otherwise.
 
I have had many columns apart. The pin your thinking of is no pin at all. It is sprue left in the drilled access hole for the injection process of nylon into a machined inner cavity between the two shafts. The sprue does nothing as the working nylon is still inside working as a glide. Some do glide easy and some don't glide at all.
The tolerance between the ID and OD of the two shafts determine if the design works or not.
I've had some tubes that were a press fit and would never collapse. Luck of the draw situation on a design they didn't seem to control the working limits on well enough.
At least not in the 67-69 cars that I work on. I just reinstall and hope you never have to rely on it to collapse.
Particularly if you happen to have one that was assembled with a very tight interference fit before the nylon was injected. Others move free enough to telescope by hand.
 
Thanks for the input. Here are the photos of what I am dealing with in the event it impacts opinions:
Side 1:
Photo Sep 12, 11 43 39 PM.jpg

Side 2:
Photo Sep 12, 11 44 24 PM.jpg
 
That nylon is nothing but an assembly line aid..kept the inner shaft from moving around while it was being installed. Serves zero functional purpose
 
I believe it was injected between the two shafts to keep them from rusting or seizing together so they could telescope. A cast in place & to size bushing/glide.
On most columns without the Teflon
they would have a noisy and sloppy fit that wouldn't remain strait while turning. Bad for precise steering input. They are that loose.
Then there are others that fit together so tight the nylon is useless and they slide steel on steel if you can get them to move at all. The tolerance of this slip joint is all over the place from column to column. The nylon fixes this on all but the
steel on steel columns. I believe them to be defective and would not collapse as they were meant to during a collision. The nylon was injected with the tubes slid together at the correct length locking it there. It basically glues the shafts together till they are forced to telescope.
 
Thanks everyone for the info presented so far. The more closely I look at this thing, the more I think it is or has been collapsed. It sounds like it is common enough that people just run them this way without issue, so I'll likely proceed the same. At some point down the line when most of the major repairs are done freeing up $$ for the stuff I just want, I'd like to replace the whole thing with a tilt column anyway.
 
When I modify a shaft end to convert to DD....those little plastic suckers break off and IMO....not repairable. I would imagine they were one and done / non -serviceable break off pieces to begin with.

My fix is to just put the hollow 1"" DD (bottom) portion in my arbor press to tighten up any slight toloance so there is no slop in the 2-piece shaft. If I go too far, which is hard to do, I simply force the 3/4" (top) solid DD end into it to stretch it back out. Grease it up to it does not rust and you have a nice tight fit that can still collapse ....if needed.
 
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Reviving this old thread....The plastic "shear pins" (Chrysler's words, not mine) as referenced in the FSM appear to have some purpose. Page 19-34 of the 1970 Plymouth FSM "IMPORTANT: Bumping, jolting and hammering on the steering shaft and gearshift tube must be avoided during all service operations. If the (plastic) shear pins are broken, the controlled rate of the impact-absorbing features will be destroyed making these parts unfit for further use"

I too had a collapsed steering shaft which I adjusted back out to the correct length (41.5" for a 1970 B Body with power steering). I drilled out the plastic pins, tapped the holes and used (2) 1.5" long 10-24 nylon bolts which I trimmed at the edge of the shaft. Probably not perfect but certainly better than disregarding them as some have suggested.
 
Wing_It said:
Reviving this old thread....The plastic "shear pins" (Chrysler's words, not mine) as referenced in the FSM appear to have some purpose. Page 19-34 of the 1970 Plymouth FSM "IMPORTANT: Bumping, jolting and hammering on the steering shaft and gearshift tube must be avoided during all service operations. If the (plastic) shear pins are broken, the controlled rate of the impact-absorbing features will be destroyed making these parts unfit for further use"

I too had a collapsed steering shaft which I adjusted back out to the correct length (41.5" for a 1970 B Body with power steering). I drilled out the plastic pins, tapped the holes and used (2) 1.5" long 10-24 nylon bolts which I trimmed at the edge of the shaft. Probably not perfect but certainly better than disregarding them as some have suggested.
Click to expand...
Some attorney made them throw that in there.
 
I converted my manual-steer 6cyl auto 68 Barracuda to
SBM, Power/steering, simply by, on purpose, dropping the bottom of the column on a concrete floor and shearing the pins. Then back into the car it went.
That was year 1999
 
Yall can argue this resurrected thread all you want but the only and I mean ONLY reason those column shafts were injected like that was to stop them from rattling going down the road. Post #10 says it all. lol
 
When I had my stock steering column, those pins were sheared off and when I pulled up on the wheel the inner shaft and wheel would slide out about 2 inches. I'm not sure if there were any components missing in the assembly that allowed that or if that's just the way it works without the pins. If that's just the way they work, I'd want something in those pin holes just to avoid that annoyance.
 
DNasty777 said:
When I had my stock steering column, those pins were sheared off and when I pulled up on the wheel the inner shaft and wheel would slide out about 2 inches. I'm not sure if there were any components missing in the assembly that allowed that or if that's just the way it works without the pins. If that's just the way they work, I'd want something in those pin holes just to avoid that annoyance.
Click to expand...
Nylon machine screws and nuts from Home Depot will fix your problem.
 
DNasty777 said:
When I had my stock steering column, those pins were sheared off and when I pulled up on the wheel the inner shaft and wheel would slide out about 2 inches. I'm not sure if there were any components missing in the assembly that allowed that or if that's just the way it works without the pins. If that's just the way they work, I'd want something in those pin holes just to avoid that annoyance.
Click to expand...
You were missing the E clip and snap ring that capture the bearing and secure the shaft to the housing. This has nothing to do with the shaft being moved.
 
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