Stering Shaft Shortness = OMG no steering!

[MY1PATH]

ok so after a bad day (yard broken into, dogs temporaily gone, newborn in the hospital, accidents & other bad stuff....) it ends with getting into my pathy to go home. Turn the key, spin the wheel and well thats what it does; spin and spin and spin. Pop the hood and the steeing shaft is resting on the frame rail.

 

Ok so a couple days later after having it towed home I start playing detective. So here's what happened.

The steering shaft had seized. It is actually a 2piece spined shaft that can be slid in and out, that rubber seal in the middle of the shaft is what tiped me off. Now normally your rag-joint flexes enough that this spline stays at a set length so it doesn't have to move under normal circumsances

 

well about 2 months ago I went wheeling in some cobble stone pits now pathy has jumped many times and had a few bad landings but

NEVER JUMP A PATHY IN COBBLE STONE PITS

so the force of the landing stopped the fame instantly and the body not so instantly... I picked up the broken pieces went home and said to myself

NEVER JUMP A PATHY IN COBBLE STONE PITS

The body pushed on the saft wich pushed on the box attached to the frame, so the shaft got shorter on impact but did not return to longer on rebound. Over the next few weeks (without my knowing) the shorter shafte had pulled the ragjoint uninon against my headder so that the bold secruing the saft would hit the headder every time I turned. Eventually the bolt came loose and the rag joint pulled back to its original positon dropping my steering shaft. Fortuately this happened when I parked at the hospital and not on the freeway...

 

and yes I was sratching my head for quite a bit before I realized it was a spined slip shaft, rubber seal in the middle of the saft gave it away. I was looking for cracks, bent frame, bent seering box etc. The splines just had a little bit of rust in them but they are tight as it is that it took quite a lot of force, PB blast, impact and more force to get it extended again...

 

Now I'd just like to warn everyone

NEVER JUMP A PATHY IN COBBLE STONE PITS

It is terribly destructive in many more ways than just the above I prolly got off lucky...

[JamesRich]

Thanks for the warning, I'll try to keep the rubber on the ground!

Good luck with the new born, I'll say a few prayers. Nothing can bring a grown man to his knees like watching his child suffer. I thank God every day that my kids have been healthy.

James

[MY1PATH]

Thanks 4 the well wishes. He is out of the hospital now and things are going well.

I'll still jump my pathy but I think I'll stay away from cobble stone pits.

[GrimGreg]

That slip joint in the shaft is the part you are supposed to expand for the body lift. Since it almost never moves in normal use, it is a PITA to tap it out.

[MY1PATH]

AND PITA IT WAS

maybe only 9 or 10 out of the 36 splines were rusted. Cleaning them with sribes and Knife files was a pain too. What really surpises me is I clamped the inner shaft and sild rods thru the Universal to give me somehting to beat on and the universal took all the abuse I threw at it without harming the bearings. IT extended about 1/8" per 10 swings of my 2.5LB hammer then I cleaned it up, Filled the bottom with a smooth mix of Moly-grease and gear oil and removed 1 spline to keep it from hydrolocking and spraying everywhere when it gets cycled (not that it needs it cause its motion is so little). It moves better than a new one now! Eventually I'll check my 94's and make sure it is smooth as well.

 

Here's some pix of the finished product sry I forgot to take cleanup and spline photos. The splines inside are about 3" long, clocked with 1 wide spline and have a channel macined 1/4" from the bottom to draw oil up and down the internalsfrom the bottom.

 

click to enlarge

Edited October 20, 2010 by MY1PATH

[JamesRich]

Thanks 4 the well wishes. He is out of the hospital now and things are going well.

I'll still jump my pathy but I think I'll stay away from cobble stone pits.

I am amazed at the suspension on this truck. It rides decent but takes bumps incredibly well. A bridge by my house has a large dip on one side. If I hit it in my titan doing more than 45mph it bottoms out the front suspension. I hit that same dip in the pathy doing 70mph and hardly felt the dip. I know I will end up catching some air eventually.

James