45 replies to this topic

[76lxhatch]

Interesting thoughts, although I agree that the flexible joint will provide a little cushioning it seems that it would be negligible in that direction (although the second uni provides none whatsoever). I suspect that general slop in the column bearings would provide more movement...?

Mine had solid mount steering rack and urethane mounting bushes before I changed, however I must admit I never gave it much thought.

[76lxhatch]

I thought the uni joints would cost more, thus it was partly a cost saving measure?

As for the comfort angle, that was the idea with the LH/LX steering rack bushes but they ended up back-pedalling on that one. Commodores don't have rag joints

[ls2lxhatch]

The rag coupler is purely there to absorb vibration, they are not used for direction changes. If holden wanted to save money then they could have made a solid steel coupler or a longer steering shaft on the rack.

There are other styles of vibration reducers available for Hot Rod builders and replacing rag couplers.

Edited by ls2lxhatch, 07 October 2009 - 03:36 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Not 100% sure but I think that the Commodore has something like one of the above that ls2lxhatch posted for vibration damping still, it just wouldn't have as much flex as the donut

[TerrA LX]

Insitu why would it need to flex?

[76lxhatch]

That's what we're discussing - I don't really think it does, but I can see the idea being that the rubber-mounted steering rack and front cross member allows movement...

[A9X]

For those that have done this, what do you use for the middle shaft?

Do you spline it or keyay it?

Maybe a sticky?

[ls2lxhatch]

For those that have done this, what do you use for the middle shaft?

Do you spline it or keyay it?

Maybe a sticky?

The rag coupler and uni use the same cotter pin setup. It is basically a matter of swapping one for the other. The only modification required is to trim about 10 mm off the end of the steering rack shaft so the cotter pin in the uni will line up with the pad on the shaft.

Yes it is that simple, only mod is to cut the excess off the steering rack input shaft (it doesn't do anything no matter what coupling you use). Its probably a fair bit easier to to do this with the rack out of the car, otherwise no more difficult than replacing the coupling as normal.

Edited by ls2lxhatch, 09 October 2009 - 01:42 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Maybe a sticky?

As with the diff and brakes, I'm sure Rory has done the step-by-step with pictures version somewhere...

edit: maybe not, I can't find anything - may have been thinking of rodomo's lower column bearing mod thread (who knows what I'm thinking, its Friday afternoon)

Edited by 76lxhatch, 09 October 2009 - 02:19 PM.

[jd lj]

My LJ has had a LX steering uni put in place of the original rubber coupling, when I go around 110 kph the steering wheel shakes as if the tyres need to be balanced which I have had done 3 or 4 times which has made no difference. Could the steel uni be to blame or would it be a steering rack problem, how do you check the rack for wear.

[76lxhatch]

My LJ has had a LX steering uni put in place of the original rubber coupling, when I go around 110 kph the steering wheel shakes as if the tyres need to be balanced which I have had done 3 or 4 times which has made no difference. Could the steel uni be to blame or would it be a steering rack problem, how do you check the rack for wear.

I guess its possible if the uni is really sloppy but seems unlikely, I'd be looking elsewhere

[S pack]

Sounds like most like the second uni idea and I suppose steering response would be better, but I'm not so sure, long term.

My thinking is, if your gonna do it you should have urethane subframe & steering rack bushes installed first.
Otherwise any movement is going to travel up the shaft and cause either the colapsable center shaft to break its
plastic pins and move or pop your coffee pot bearing at the to top the shaft.

On the safety and legal aspect, I suppose Toranas being so old either the plastic are already broken or more than likely
the colapsable shaft is rusted on the inside and wont colapse anyway.
Therefore I would say the original flexible joint has some safety merits as well, by providing some possiblity
of absorbsion/movement or tearing to is some way dimminish the forward movement of the steering wheel crushing your chest
in an accident.

Anyway thats my thinking and if these rubber kits Dattoman are any good, all the better.

Food for thought.

Ive had my column/shaft out and have carried it vertically without the pins shearing. The column would likely have been in a vertical position during racking and installation. It would have been engineered to require a certain amount of force to collapse and more than just its own weight. Also rust would not stop the shaft from collapsing in an impact. As for equating cost for the coupler, this would have been most likely bought from a supplier as one piece, disassembly and recycling would not be factors, just comparitive piece cost.

I believe you're on the money there DR Fegg,
The steering shaft will not collapse under it's own weight if held vertically. The two plastic pins are designed to shear in the event of a sudden impact.

I read that it takes approx 15lbs p/sq" of static pressure to shear the pins (but don't quote me on that my memory is not quite what it used to be)

I doubt that a collapsible steering shaft that is currently in service and not directly exposed to the weather would ever be rusted so badly that it wouldn't collapse in the event of a sudden impact

I reckon when Toranas' were made recycling wasn't even a word in the English language, LOL.
AFAIK the flexible couplings serve two purposes, 1st and obviously is to allow for angular misalignment of the steering and pinion shafts and 2nd is to dampen road shocks transmitted through the steering gear, GMH further enhanced this by mounting the LH/LX steering rack on rubber bushes.
Naturally the bean counters play their part in every decision about parts being used in production of a vehicle.

Cheers
Dave

[76lxhatch]

AFAIK the flexible couplings serve two purposes, 1st and obviously is to allow for angular misalignment of the steering and pinion shafts and 2nd is to dampen road shocks transmitted through the steering gear, GMH further enhanced this by mounting the LH/LX steering rack on rubber bushes.

I think that an RTS front end with more caster than factory is going to track better and give less issues with twitching at higher speeds, so perhaps the damping action is most important on pre-RTS cars with zero/negative caster?