steering wheel out of alignment

[lcvaldetaro]

Hi,
As the subject says, my steering wheel gets out of alignment sometimes... meaning, the wheel has to be turned some 20 degrees for the car to go straight. Then, it becomes normal on its own.

There is very little play. The wheels themselfes appear aligned; if i remove my hands the car goes straight always.

What could be wrong?

[Marc]

The most likely cause would be that the coupler has worked loose so that it's shifting on the steering column shaft and/or the input shaft of the steering box. So long as the pinch bolt is still present you won't totally lose control, but it needs immediate attention. A less-likely reason would be if the steering box itself is shifting on the beam (you should see evidence of this where the box and clamp contact the beam).


Here's an entire coupler assembly. Note how there are fine splines on the stub shaft which the column clamps to; the input shaft of the box is similarly splined. There are no true corresponding splines in the shaft, these just give some "tooth" for the junction - continued operation with a loose pinch bolt will ream out the inside of the shaft, making it hard to get a secure connection. The bolts should be a 10.9 grade (stronger than the common 8.8 grade found in other positions) - the nuts are even higher-grade, recognizable by a copper-colored light plating - and should be torqued to 18lb-ft. (they'll take a bit more, say 22-24).


If the problem ends up being loose bolts on the steering box mounting clamp, check that the box is aligned with the column so that the "rag joint" disc of the coupler doesn't have to flex when the column turns and then tighten the bolts evenly to 22lb-ft (if it's a Beetle; again, they can handle a little more but don't exceed 33 - if you snap one off in the box it'll ruin your day). All of these bolts/nuts are supposed to have sheetmetal locktabs installed which have to be pried away in order to get a socket on and squeezed/hammered back afterwards, if they are torn or were left off during prior maintenance you should replace them.

[lcvaldetaro]

Thanks Marc!

I forgot to mention that my car is a 74 Ghia; is that different?

[sideshow]

No it still needs immediate attention

[lcvaldetaro]

Thanks slideshow, I understand that;

I was referring to the rest of Marc's remarks. Is the 74 Ghia coupler different than the pictured one? And the other comments? VW changed things from year to year...

[Marc]

The only changes made in that area over the years were the composition of the disc, the length of the stub on the upper yoke, and whether the disc was held in place by bolts/nuts or by big rivets - the concept's the same. Most mechanical components of Karmann-Ghias are identical to the same-year Standard Beetles'. While you're under there, if you look closely at the clamp for the steering box you'll see that it has a notch on each side, one of which engages a little lug welded to the beam tube, and is stamped with "13" and "14" markings - that allows them to use the same part for either car by turning it around, The 'Ghia steering column is more horizontal than the Beetle's, so the box has to be rolled back slightly in order to line up with it - it's a subtle but important difference, and making the clamp like this allows the Bug beam and steering box to be used without modification in the 'Ghia.

[lcvaldetaro]

Turns out that the problem is the steering gearbox; any ideas where I can get one?

[Marc]

How was that diagnosis made? I'm a little skeptical since it's FAR more statistically likely for that symptom to be caused by something loose in the column or coupler than the box itself.
If it is the box, though, there are NEW replacements (made in Brazil, sold by TRW) that are generally fine for <$150. There are even cheaper repops too (Chinese I presume) but I wouldn't recommend them.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp ... 13-415-061

Unless you're already 100% confident that the rubber disk in the coupler is in pristine condition, this is the time to change it too. I believe that on your car it is held in place by giant rivets; I've never bothered with drilling them out and scrounging up the hardware to replace them since I've always had the luxury of having some earlier assemblies with bolt-in disks laying around that I could use when confronted with the rivets...

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp ... 415-417-MX

[Dale M.]

Bought a "rebuilt" one once ..... Won't do it again... It was sloppier than one I was replacing and still had some 'crud' in nooks and crannies.... Looks as if it was pulled cleaned (?) externally, and sent on its way...

By new!....

Dale

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I agree with Marc and Dale, if it really is (just) the steering box then buy new! I now have a TRW steering box after breaking two used ones in one day (off-road) and it is 'up-to-snuff'.

Because most of your (a metaphoric your) driving is usually straight ahead and you are moving the steering wheel making small corrections to the steering to accommodate the roads not being perfectly level (the crown for example or worn tracks in the pavement) most of the selector's and worm gear's wear is in a small place/part of the two pieces. If you adjust the steering box when it is in the straight ahead (worn) position then the other areas of the steering box will be too tight and can cause any one of several serious problems to happen such as cracking/breaking the box itself. If you adjust the box in the less worn areas then the straight ahead position of the steering will be too sloppy.

The bushings and/or bearings (speaking generally not specific to any particular steering box) also wear or get tired and not all rebuilders go to the extent of replacing those components either: they might check or inspect them and if they 'seem' OK then on with adding the new components... and you many not know where they were come from either. A used or worn steering gear box is going to continue to wear and maybe at an accelerated pace; unless you are doing a 'to-the-line' restoration, be safe and go with a new box if at all possible.

Lee