Steering Shafts don’t fit

[rychi1]

I was trying to install the steering shafts and nothing would fit. One end of the shaft would fit in the u joint and he other would not. Neither shaft would fit through the bearing. Am I supposed to have to grind the shafts down to make them fit?

[NAZ]

Same problem with mine. I mike'd the shafts and the u-loint bores as well as the bearing bores and there was an interference fit of ~.001 if I recall correctly. I had to use a small fine abrasive flapper wheel to open up the bearing to get the shaft to fit. On the u-joint press fit I had to carefully remove some metal from the shaft ends a little at a time. I took just enough to make a tight slip fit using a micrometer to measure the amount of material removed and a Magic Marker to indicate the tight spots that needed to be worked. Go slow and don't get aggressive with material removal -- it's a lot easier to remove material than to put it back if you go too far.

Also a tip: the u-joints have set screws to hold them on the shafts. You really don't want these to come apart on their own. Once everything was assembled and adjusted to my liking I marked where the set screws engage on the shaft. I then disassembled everything and set up the shafts in my mill and using an end mill plunged a locating bore slightly larger in diameter than the set screw and ~half the diameter deep. I made only one of these per shaft end so that to pull apart the assemble would require shearing one of the set screws. You can use a drill where I used a mill -- even a hand drilled locating hole is better than relying on the clamping force of a small set screw alone.

[DaveS53]

Another example of poorly made products in the kit. If you buy shafts and u-joints from Flaming River or other reputable suppliers, you won't have that problem.

After the shafts are assembled, it's possible to use a drill bit, inserted right through the set screw holes to accurately spot drill the location of each set screw. Then disassemble and finish drilling deeper on a drill press. Check what size of bit is used as the tap drill size for the specific set screws used.

http://www.americanfastener.com/tap-and-drill-size-chart/

[rychi1]

Thank you. That’s pretty much what I am doing sand, test fit, sand, test fit, repeat 20 times. I do like the idea of giving the set screw somewhere to bed in the shaft. I will try to do that also.

[HVACMAN]

I finished mine today. I found it easier if I ground a bevel on the ends of the shaft. All slid in fairly easily. Mine is a fairly new kit. That might be the difference.