column lower bearing change for non assisted direction

Hi,

Changing the lower colum bearing ,

The free play in the steering wheel is sometimes  due to a lower colum bearing too old, ,

Here's my experience ,


Already , disassemble the steering wheel , commodos , plastic spacer , block neiman ,

Take advantage of course to mount a new ring behind the neiman block ,

Then , loosen the cardan , remove the spring , the white plastic ring of the spring and remove the column ,

With a threaded rod , pull out the old bearing by taping lightly ,

In my case , this famous bearing had no more balls , that explains the free play ,

New bearing taken at Mecatechnic , but available everywhere ,

Oil very slighly the edge , and then , using a threaded rod , bear on the top of the sleeve and screw to make it fit.

The essential complication is the pressure spring , it must be compressed to insert the column in the cardan ,

I made a small tool with two washers that i opened to be able to take them out at the end and three screws to tighten .



Be careful cause the spring is tared pretty strong , so be careful anyway ,

Use the mark at the bottom of the column (notch) to position correctly in the cardan ,then install the screw and the nut.

The spring compression tool wil be removed only after reassembled  the neiman block part , otherwise the column goes down and there is not enough thread to screw the nut of the steering wheel ,

At the end , we take care TO CONTROL EVERYTHING A SECOND TIME , it's the direction and an error or forgetting is not recommanded for sure.

Of course , that done , no free play at all , and a feeling of ease to turn the wheel.

NOTE : if it's difficult to fit the  the neiman block  with the new ring   , mount a spacer on the column and screw using the thread of the end of column ,


Do not hesitate to ask if needed ,

 

I never had an issue with the shaft collapsing that I couldn't pull it back out. I also found that going back if I placed a long flat blade in the lower u-joint, and use a block of wood as a fulcrum I could keep the shaft in place using foot pressure to allow me to get the spring and clip back on at the top on my 90's.