Steering column lower bearing help!

yeah i would say that looks correct

Yay!!!!  Cheers rubjonny!  I actually took it all apart again last night as I was not feeling happy about the spring closest to the steering wheel end being there.  It didnt seem to fit properly and from every diagram I had seen it looked like the only spring should be between the bearing and uj.  Took it out and it only took me an hour to put it all back together-pretty good for me

Does anyone have a picture of their lower steering column that shows how the lower bearing, spring, and thrust washer are arranged?

The spring-loaded column bearing is apparently more common in Europe, and doesn't seem to be the style on US-made Rabbits.

Here in the states, the mk1 Rabbits used a different bearing, 171419517, not the 171419517B.

Our bearing presses into the bottom of the steering column tube and is stationary.

The inner race for our bearing is a separate part, a metal race/inner plastic bushing that slips snuggly over the shaft and is tapped into the position inside the outer bearing.

Since the inner race is not constrained, the shaft can move freely into the upper telescoping shaft, in the event of a collision.

The shaft is a "double D" style, so the inner race must have a matching custom plastic bushing fitted inside, to envelop the shaft fully.

I am going to guess from the pictures of your bearing, that your shaft is *round*, not a Double D, and that the inner race is built into the bearing itself, and the split plastic sleeve on it's inside diameter fits directly on the shaft.

One thing I can't figure is why you have a spring and trust washer behind the bearing, unless the bearing is free to move in the tube and there is a need to center it. Our bearing (not the inner race) is a press fit into the tube end and so is stationary.

Waking up the old thread,

Found a load of ball bearings in the carpet, and looks like the lower bearing has collapsed. Can I get away with removing the UJ and doing it in situ or did you need to remove the whole column? - Not looking forward to that as I have an easysteer power unit installed and would require taking the whole dash out.  

Thanks in advance :-) - with some hope!

Ball Bearings, I could of sworn that the bottom was roller bearing and not balled.

But y'all do some funny things over on that side of the pond.

pretty sure you can undo the lower UJ then it will slide up the lower half of the column no problem

rubjonny said

pretty sure you can undo the lower UJ then it will slide up the lower half of the column no problem

Thanks John that's what I was hoping  - Will tackle that  and update. Much appreciated.