Upper steering shaft

[Dthquazi]

My upper steering shaft is quite hard to get in. Looking at others, they seem to be a lot easier than mine. I am having to mallet mine in. I have to hit it fairly hard so I stopped to see if this is common. I am using the Russ Thompson signal set up and all the the bearings and what not are loose. I have checked the shaft for burrs but it is smooth. Keep going to get it in?

[AC Bill]

So the upper is hard to get in to the lower column, or are you talking about the upper, going through the top bearing?

I don't recall my upper being extremely tight fitting going in to the lower, but it may have taken a little persuasion. As to fitting through the upper bearing, that was not an issue at all.

[DadofThree]

My upper steering shaft is quite hard to get in. Looking at others, they seem to be a lot easier than mine. I am having to mallet mine in. I have to hit it fairly hard so I stopped to see if this is common. I am using the Russ Thompson signal set up and all the the bearings and what not are loose. I have checked the shaft for burrs but it is smooth. Keep going to get it in?

grease that sucker, and be sure that the washers haven't slipped out of position. I wouldn't force it, as you may need to get it back out one day.

[edwardb]

Yea, don't force it that much. It can be a tight fit. But if you're hammering it in, something is wrong. And as stated, you won't have a good time getting it back out. Check it for straightness, no burrs or whatever, and clean it up if it's rusty. Add some lube as suggested. If it still won't go in with only reasonable force, call Factory Five. Others have reported they will replace them.

[cv2065]

I had the exact same issue and FFR replaced it.

[Railroad]

Mine was the same. I took a hand held belt sander and polished it down. Still needed a dead blow to get it in. I did add anti seize, used the 2 washers and added 2 set screws.

[hjoensy]

Same here. Had ffr replace the bearing because it was 8 thousandths smaller than the upper shaft. Still didn’t go. I lightly grinded the inside of the bearing and grease. That finally worked.