I’m trying to replace my intermediate steering shaft. Looking at the new part, I’m noticing that the top u-joint will not fully articulate. The u joint yolk is binding with the other yolk, not allowing full articulation to occur. Kind of seems like a big thing to miss during the assembly process. I’m wondering if this part is supposed to be like this?
In this video you can see the bottom u-joint that attaches to the rack and pinion fully articulates no problem, but the top one that connects to the steering wheel does not.
Thank you!
I was also wondering, the telescoping shaft, does telescoping only occur when you raise and lower the steering wheel? Does telescoping occur when going over bumps? I see some clear grease where the two shafts meeting (likely silicone grease). But I would imagine it doesn’t telescope much?
Would you happen to know if my top u joint is supposed to fully articulate? Kind of odd something like this would have been missed. But it barley articulates at all in one direction, because the two yolks hit each other, allowing for little movement.
I’m outta here but isn’t the top joint for the tilt function? Up or down, not left and right also.
But why are you disassembling the steering shaft? In almost two million miles, I’ve never had a shaft wear out.
The intermediate shaft is fully compressed and interfering with the joint. Pull the inner shaft out a few inches. You will need to lengthen the shaft during installation, it won’t reach if fully compressed.
Yea I’m just trying to figure out if the part is defective or not. There’s lots of slop in my steering wheel without turning the tires. And a knocking sound when going back and forth a few degrees. Was in a newer rental car a few weeks ago, and it was dead silent when rotating the steering wheel back and forth a few degrees. I think the u joints might be worn out on my original one. See lots of grease along it that leaked out of the original one.
With the shaft fully extended, the yokes are still interfering with each other in the top u joint. Kind of seems like a hard thing to be missed and screwed up on assembly. Making me wonder if this part is supposed to be like this.
Ultra Power replacement part doesn’t appear to have this issue for either u joint.
With the telescoping functionality only being a function for accidents are adjusting the steering wheel height, seems to be an infrequently used function, and not worth regreasing, ever.
The maximum useful angle of a U-joint (or cardan joint) is 45 degrees. In-use as a steering shaft you will never see angles as large as 45 degrees.
Prove it to yourself. Look at the shaft in the car now. Turn the wheel 360 degrees as a test at each angle of tilt. Measure the angle of the joints at the greatest angle. The angle to the steering rack is likely the largest angle. I’ll bet it doesn’t come close to 45 degrees at any point.
The shaft is fine as designed and built.
That said, have you tested the slop in the shaft that is in your car now? Are the U-joints loose? Is the collapsible portion sloppy?
Thanks for the help. I finally got under my car to try and confirm the design. The one installed in my car appears to be the kind where the u joint yokes do not interfere with each other, on either end.
No different than the intermediate shafts in your pictures, the joints just need to be straightened out to align with the column shaft and rack & pinion. Those were folded over during packaging.
As I understand what Nevada is saying above, you first have to stretch that part to make it long enough to cover the space provided. In other words it comes compressed for ease of shipping. Now you have to somehow un-compress it to the correct length. Have you done that?
Insert a long screwdriver into the shaft opening for added leverage to straighten the joint. When the joint is straight, what seems to be interfering with movement?
And the flag police wonder why the discussions may get a little off topic once in a while. Is yelling though violence? And is that a form of disrespect that should be flagged?
