StrayDog

I have owned my 66 for about 5 years , has had a loosness / vibration in sterring wheel, new tires, newwheels, front wheel bearings, balenced wheels again & againt , new roters & ss calipers , alingment & several new front suspension components & sterring box rebuilt :smash: have helped but it was still there..........bought rag joint replacement kit & while putting it on , i noted sloppyness in sterring colum & discovered steering colum lower bushing was completely shot, sent away for upper & lower bushings , race, spring & washer .............PROBLEM CURED , sterring vibration gone , the components are cheap 30 bucks or so & its a SATURDAY afternoon job & relatively easy ...if i had checked the shaft out first would have cured problem along time ago.... worked for me. :cheers:

StrayDog

AMENDUM ......look at exploded view in assembly manuel & vendors parts catalogs ..in my case the spring that holds the lower bearing to the colum on the shaft was completly missing , was not a difficult do it yourself repair.....i bought parts from Long Island Corvette make certain you get all parts, including washer, spring , race & bearings (upper & lower).............

Crazyhorse

Thanks for the tip ! :cheers: It's probably something that needs to be done on mine by this point in time.

TheOman

Straydog

Can you describe the looseness? Sloppy steering, oscillation of the steering wheel like a front wheel is out of balance? What was it like? I assume that if one disconnects the rag joint one can readily feel if the "guts" of the coulmn are finished? Do you need any special tools, you know the ones in the manual that most dealers don't eaven have, the ones that make impossible jobs easy IF you have the magic tool?

For $30 I am ready to give it a shot. I have declared war on vibration and am actually getting the thing to run pretty smoothly. Never would have looked at column bearings / bushings though.

I suppose the steering column has to come out to pull this rebuild off but that can't be a big deal after some of the stuff i have done to this car.

Thanks for the tip.

MasterDave

I have no shaking/vibration in mine but I replaced both upper and lower bearings during my rebuild. The upper one had two bearings missing and the lower was pretty nasty also. Easy job really, glad it cured your problem bro... :cheers:

StrayDog

THEOMAN.........LOOK at the shaft as it goes into the end of the colum , about 8 inches up from rag joint grab the shaft & pull up toward you, mine was sloppy ...there is a little clamp that should have a spring above it as it holds the lower bearing in place ..........look at an assembly manuel or a vendor parts catalog , under sterring colum & you will see an exploded view...if you were good witrh an erector set you can do this repair no special tools & about 4 hours of work..........the dog

Kid_Again

..yeah, good advice...these races should be checked any time you pull the steering column...straydog's right on the money, easy to replace

J Lance Miller

StrayDog,

My car had no lower bearing and the upper bearing housing (turn indicator switch assembly) was cracked when I bought the car. My steering wheel moved both radially and laterally. I went throught the same drill - complete suspension rebuild then finally attacked the steering column. My steering column cost me about $100 due to my cracked upper bearing housing which was about $70.

Always good to hear about positive outcomes after repairs :cheers: enjoy it.

Mag Red Man

JLance, that must have been pretty exciting, driving your car with no steering column bearings!

TheOman

Never ever had trouble with my "erector" set. Will take a look at this when I get home from the current business trip.

My '66 had the original shocks got to believe that nothing else has been changed in the column. When does this rebuilding end??????

Thanks Again

Oman