When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I am in the process of installing a new Borgeson steering unit and I am having a hard time getting the steering column to collapse. I have tried hitting it with a hammer and it’s not moving at all. Any ideas? I noticed the bushing type thing on the shaft and I am wondering if it is keeping it from moving. I don’t know it’s purpose is and it is not shown in my AIM. Can I remove it?
Any ideas on how to get the steering shaft shorten up is appreciated.
I have rebuild a couple of 68 steering columns and it is not clear to me how you could do this neatly anyway if you need to shorten it significantly. If you study the links, one for std column and another for a tele column, the center of the steering is a tube inside a tube that is supposed to collapse on impact. These tubes are inside of a sleeve that has multible holes (looks like a chain link fence) that is supposed to collapse as well. Not sure how you would cleanly shorten this sleeve and keep it straight. And finally while your column to do as you wish, hate to see an original one damaged. Me, I would get and install an aftermarket steering column.
That plastic bushing near the rag joint and next to something similar to a tie rod sleeve clamp can be tough to get off. It and the clamp acts as an end anchor for the steering column. You can cut it off, it is plastic. 50 years and who know how much brake fluid drips and rust underneath messes it up sometimes. A replacement is hard to find.
Good luck and hope this might help. Jim Shea's papers are the best.
Last edited by 20mercury; Dec 17, 2020 at 11:05 PM.
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
The Federal Government mandated collapsible columns starting in 1968.
The collapsible steering column was designed to collapsed in the event of a severe frontal impact that was so severe that it would bend the frame, push the steering box back, and shove the column into the driver's upper body. You can read about it here with posts from Jim Shea. See also Steve's post #7: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...aft-clamp.html
Why in the world are you trying to collapse the column..? Beating on it with a hammer to get it to collapse into the collision self-destruct mode seems like an exceptionally bad idea...
While you are at that task of destroying a "safety" feature of your steering column, why not throw some bleach or acid on your seat belts...just to spice things up a bit???
As a vehicle owner, you do have to use your brain every once in a while. Doing so might just save your life...or that of a passenger in your car.
IF I were to do the borgensen steering box, I would shorten and repsline the shaft. Yes, there are dozens here who have hammered on the end of the shaft and have not had any problems.....that they know of.
I really don't know this, but it has been posted on many Borgeson threads, that the shaft "MUST" be shortened to work with the Borgeson steering box. So the OP is simply following the instructions that come with the modification. By the way......its one reason I would never use the Borgeson box. I like factory manual steering......NO beating required.
I've seen multiple threads all over this and other forums about collapsing steering columns and have never commented on this act but I think now I will. The collapsible column was designed to be a self sacrificing part to keep the driver from being impaled in front end impact. Once collapsed the column is junk. The internal parts of the column were/are designed to be destroyed while in the process of absorbing the blow during it's collapse. ANY amount of collapse starts the destroying of the internal bushing and collar. In most cases even slight collapse can cause sloppiness in the steering and an annoying thump noise in turns. Sometimes not. I realize that a front end impact in one these hard enough to shove the gear box rearward is probably gonna kill.us anyway BUT having a properly functioning safety device and one that may not work as designed because its been modified could be the difference between death and seeing my grandkids grow up. I'm not telling anyone what to do with their ride. We are free to modify or not our cars but this topic has always bugged me. Okay, I'm off my.high horse now. Let the flames begin.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
heres a few threads. And yes you gotta whack on them to shorten them, and suddenly in doing so you then you have just jumped back into 1967....And everyone thats driven a car from the model A all the way up to 67 never survied.
although you may be better off with a substitute for the 68 column because I did notice that in a short thread they found the Same results you figured out and some have said about that plastic bit. And for those whining about shortening a column and worrying about the steering coulumn going through your chest, dont 'cuz the second your vette gets hit hard enough for that column to separate from the frame as it gets crushed by a Semi hitting you in a head on, youre gonna look like a bug on a windshield any way. ...boohoo my 600hp vette doing 120MPH down the highway hit a bridge abutment and I died because my steering column didnt get a chance to collapse...boohoo.. Get off the soap box or go buy a Prius crybaby!!! And for the record, its 2020, the steering column didnt kill you , Covid did. Remember there hasn't been a car accident fatality since they invented the collapsing column, the seat belt, the air bags, crumple zones, self driving cars, the zombie apocalypse or basement Joe getting coronated.
Thanks for the input. Looks like I am going to have to pull the entire steering column which is the exact thing I did not want to do. I am not sure I would have decided to move forward with this project if I would have known about all of the unknowns. I did get the steering column to move but it was pushing back inside the car and not collapsing!
Here is a quote from Jim Shea from another thread regarding shortening the column for a Borgeson conversion:
Originally Posted by Jim Shea
As a point of fact, the Saginaw energy absorbing, collapsible steering column assembly was designed with the thought that the steering shaft could be shortened in a severe frontal collision. The dynamics of the collision could press the end of the tubular lower steering shaft back up into the column. Saginaw was also aware that the steering column (particularly when it was completely out of the car) could be accidentally dropped on the end of the steering shaft and the shaft shortened. The steering shaft was designed with the tubular lower shaft engaging the solid upper steering shaft with a generous overlap between the two parts. So the steering shaft assembly was designed with this very generous overlap that would provide a real safe steering function. So yes, the shaft can be shortened by pressing it back into the lower bearing.
I do have a problem when people cut, section, and weld a critical safety part like a steering shaft.
The 'collapse-able" shaft was meant as an 'energy absorbing' member that could lessen the impact energy of vehicle parts during a frontal collision. If you pre-collapse the column, there is less energy that it can absorb in a crash. That's more energy that gets to the passengers.
It is your car and you can do what you want. These 4-5 decade old cars were not designed to crush and displace crash energy; so keeping the little that is already there should be maintained. At least, that's my 2 cents....
Anyone got a junk column laying around that could be donated to gearhead science for an autopsy (or a disassembled column)? I would like to see pictures of the actual components involved and try to understand the feasibility of shortening the shaft while retaining the full capability of the safety feature.
Help collapsing 68 steering column
