MK4 Steering shafts too long??? looking for help.

[Jeff_J.]

I'm doing a preliminary fitting my steering shafts from the power steering rack and it seems like the universal before the peddle box front is too close and won't align with the bearing on the front of the peddle box. If I move the shafts to flush in the u-joints with the bearing to the front of the peddle box the shaft is easily 3/8" too long.
I moved the shafts a little deeper than flush in the universals and re snugged the set screws to see if maybe the extra 1/8" per joint would help but it's still too tight. If I move the bearing to the inside of the peddle box i can just make it fit but that can't be the answer here. I must be doing something wrong here or misreading the instructions, if someone can shed some light here that would be great... Jeff_J
Picture of shaft set in spline
173439
Picture of universal at peddle box - bearing set inside of Peddle box.
173440

[CraigS]

Actually moving the bearing inside the pedal box is very common. Enough that I would make that permanent. What you have discovered is that w/ the bearing on engine side the shaft is captured. It can't be removed w/o moving the rack. When this becomes an issue is when you start working on front end alignment and realize you need to rotate the shaft w/ respect to the splines on the rack so you can get the steering wheel centered when the rack is centered. W/ the bearing inside the footwell, it isn't much fun working on your back but at least it makes rotating the shaft a spline or two possible.

[Jeff_J.]

Thanks Craig. when moving the bearing to the inside of the Peddle box did you leave the bearing set screws on on the engine side or did you turn the bearing to have them on the inside of the Peddle Box. Turning the bearing would make working on the screw a pain but might gain an extra 1/4". The other thing I was thinking was to take a little off the length of the lower steering shaft to make the bearing work on the engine side do you see any problems with that as an alternative?

[mladen]

Just moving it inside didn't fully solve it for me. You can read the two posts here around what I did and options considered https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?43812-Mladen-s-MK4-Build-Thread&p=501679&viewfull=1#post501679

[Papa]

The configuration you are showing in your pictures looks quite a bit different than what my assembly looks like. Not sure if that's due to different parts or some other issue, but here is what mine looks like:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=84523&d=1524419859

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=84524&d=1524419867

[Jeff_J.]

Thanks mladen & Dave (Papa) for the input and pictures. just a sidebar here - Dave i contributed 2 reads to your 1mm.
I considered the options you noted - number 2 was the one I figured as well, I want to keep the bearing mount on the engine side of the Peddle Box, same as Dave's pictures, it just looks cleaner. Dave I agree your setup looks a little different than mine, different suppliers I guess. I'm going to try moving the shafts a little further into the universals and turn the bearing around so the set screws are on the inside of the peddle box to see if that works. Failing that it might be easier to shorten the lower shaft by about 1/2", hope that's not a mistake!!! Going to looks at it again and make a decision. stay tuned...

[rich grsc]

Move the bearing holder to the inside, and turn the bearing around so the set screws are in the foot box. It's not an issue, once installed it's likely you'll never mess with them again. That how I do all of mine.

[BrewCityCobra]

I'm doing a preliminary fitting my steering shafts from the power steering rack and it seems like the universal before the peddle box front is too close and won't align with the bearing on the front of the peddle box. If I move the shafts to flush in the u-joints with the bearing to the front of the peddle box the shaft is easily 3/8" too long.
I moved the shafts a little deeper than flush in the universals and re snugged the set screws to see if maybe the extra 1/8" per joint would help but it's still too tight. If I move the bearing to the inside of the peddle box i can just make it fit but that can't be the answer here. I must be doing something wrong here or misreading the instructions, if someone can shed some light here that would be great... Jeff_J
Picture of shaft set in spline
173439
Picture of universal at peddle box - bearing set inside of Peddle box.
173440

I actually just dealt with this issue last week. I wasn't a huge fan of placing the bearing on the inside of the firewall as I thought it was a bit more aesthetic to keep it on the outside to match the hole cut in the sheetmetal (basically preference). What I ended up doing was cutting the intermediate shaft (with a cutoff wheel), like you discussed. To determine the length, I ended up setting up both universal joints, inserting the intermediate shaft in one of the two ends, and then marking the length based on the other. It ended up installing nice and easy. To adjust, I just slide the outside sleeve of the collapsible length toward the steering wheel - which allows the intermediate shaft to be removed and adjusted.

173494

173492

173493

173495

[JohnK]

The configuration you are showing in your pictures looks quite a bit different than what my assembly looks like. Not sure if that's due to different parts or some other issue, but here is what mine looks like:


Based on photos in this thread and a few others I've seen recently, I think FFR has changed the steering shaft assembly. Mine is like yours, where the shaft is welded to the u-joints at both ends. On the newer ones (like the photos in this thread), the shaft is loose and held in with a set screw. This is not the first thread I've seen where the shaft is too long and needs cutting, even after moving the bearing to the inside of the footbox. FWIW, even with the old shaft I still moved the bearing to the inside of the footbox and liked that better.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=134209&d=1598303653

[BradCraig]

There must be some variance of what FF sends, I assembled mine as directions state with the bearing on outside and it all went together as it should.

[Jeff_J.]

Thanks for the comments Brad/Craig. I agree must have been a change in suppliers and the parts are a little different. I stared at it for a while and for the same reasons mentioned I cut the shaft, a little scary but glad I did it, it was the right solution for me.
I appreciate the support from the forum.

[JNC]

Did you install your steering rack biased forward or aft in the chassis mounts? Depending on how the bushing pieces/parts are arranged, about 3/8" of position difference can be had. However, I have the Unisteer manual rack with aluminum bushings, so maybe the power racks and poly bushings are different.

[Jeff_J.]

Hi JNC, it's an FF rack and I followed the installation instructions with the supplied bushings and sleeves so I don't have a good answer if it's forward or back or it it was adjustable in that respect.