mooncricket

and it's a brand new bearing.

I've driven the car maybe 50 miles with this bearing in it. I got it from one of the usual suspects, but can't remember which one for sure so I won't say in case I'm wrong. You can grab the steering wheel and just move it up and down and side to side, and it feels just loose. So I pulled it apart to investigate tonight. Everything was assembled the way it should be (assembled according to Jim Shea's paper on this) but I pressed the bearing out of the carrier and cleaned the grease out, and I'm measuring about .010" to .012" play, side to side in the bearing itself.

I understand that you might want this bearing to have a little play but this seems way excessive. Has anyone else got a new bearing and had this amount of play? Or did I just get a lousy one?

Jim Shea, could you maybe comment with your incredible knowledge of this topic?

The column is a standard, non-telescoping column original to the car.


thanks

terrys6t8roadster

Same column in my 6t8, the play in my column was from a failed lower brg causing movement up top. Just something to check. T

mooncricket

Thanks, I'll take a look at the lower bearing tonight. So where did you locate a new lower bearing for the 68 std. column? I couldn't find one anywhere.

CORYSZ

I found that the 67 lower bearing (2nd Design) zip part# sc-713 worked in my 68 just installed one a couple weeks ago.

mooncricket

Does anyone know the original GM part number for the upper bearing? And maybe the lower too? They are not in my AIM.

And thanks CORYSZ, I'll check that ZIP number out.

mooncricket

Update: It's actually worse... The ID of the bearing is about 0.7545, and the diameter of the shaft is 0.749. So add an additional .005" to that slop figure. Ugh...

terrys6t8roadster

Finding that lower brg, well after 2 wrong ones, we made one up from a bronze oillite bushing. CORYSZ is on the right path, found out later that our columns are a almost the same as the late 67s. T

mooncricket

Yes, machining an oillite bushing did cross my mind but I discounted that since they don't release lubricant unless warmed. Not likely to happen in the steering column. I don't doubt however that it would work for lots of years... I did check the lower column bearing when I had the steering box out for a rebuild though, and it was tight so I've reduced my issue to a cheap sloppy Chinese bearing in the upper.

I came across a high quality flanged go-kart bearing that I've ordered, I think I can machine the housing to fit this bearing and come out the same on all dimensions. It's nice to have access to a lathe sometimes... Hopefully I can make it work and I'm not messing with another cheap Chinese replacement bearing.

mooncricket

For anyone interested, here are some pictures of how this turned out. I pressed the OEM bearing out and chucked the housing from the back on an expanding 5C collet, then bored the housing for a .002" press fit to the actual bearing. Then I trimmed the top down to the height I calculated with the new bearing from the original bearing assembled in the housing. Then just pressed the new bearing in the housing. Easy work.






Everything assembled back together exactly as original. Now the column is nice and tight, and the steering wheel shaft isn't sinking in on the column anymore. I think now one of my problems is that the small clip that goes in front of the bearing on the shaft was sinking into the tapered bearing ID. This was causing the steering wheel hub to rub on the column cover that goes below the hub... If that makes any sense to anyone...

So long cheap Chinese junk bearing.

terrys6t8roadster

Good all American ingenuity at it's finest. T

bushle

First time poster. I was working on the column for my 67. I have the housing chucked up in my lathe right now. I was wondering what was the source of the bearing that you used? It looks like an elegant solution to the problem. Thanks.

mooncricket

Hi,

It was a .750 ID flanged go-cart wheel bearing I got off of ebay. This might have been the listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-BEARINGS-1...1UCkt1&vxp=mtr

Column is still tight as ever with that bearing, it was a huge improvement.

SB64

Hey Marty, that was a real nice job you did and salvaged the OEM piece. I did that with my headlight bearings. I did not like the import flange so I had a REAL good friend of mine remove the center and remove the ball and install it it in the OEM flange. Much better. Keep up the nice work on your beautiful BB.
Roger

mooncricket

Thanks Roger, hope you are doing well in your new place! Headlight bearings look fantastic, fortunately I haven't had to dig into that yet... Hope your car is coming along well.

richwahne

How did you press the bearing out of the housing? There appears to be a lip around the top of the bearing that, in MHO, would need to be cut off prior to pressing the old bearing out and the new one in.

Did I miss something in your explanation?
Thanks!!