How to remove upper steering column bush?
Discussion
I'm in a bit of a pickle. Am building my Caterham and today was fitting the steering. I managed to fit both the upper & lower bushes ok, but as I inserted the steering column the white nylon inner of the top bush came out. So now the white inner is sitting in the steering column tube and I can't get it out because it's too wide to fit through either bush. So I assume I need to remove the top bush to get it out. But how can I get the top bush out?
Cheers.
Cheers.
Can't you remove the lower outer bush, the rubber part?
It's two years since I built my car and I had little or no difficulty with these bushes, though I know many do. A recent build blog (caterham360build.co.uk) talks about removing the lower bush completely in order to refit the white plastic part, and then refitting the whole thing.
Wouldn't that give enough room to get the upper inner out?
You could ask Rob Jones on the above blog how he got his out?
It's two years since I built my car and I had little or no difficulty with these bushes, though I know many do. A recent build blog (caterham360build.co.uk) talks about removing the lower bush completely in order to refit the white plastic part, and then refitting the whole thing.
Wouldn't that give enough room to get the upper inner out?
You could ask Rob Jones on the above blog how he got his out?
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 20th December 21:28
It's the most common mistake to make and we have all done it once or twice on our builds over the years.
It's just a push fit in to the upper bush, and as you can see from your picture it has little key ways to loacste it.
Then is easy enough to close up,slightly and push back into position, and rotate it with your finger inside it until it clicks into the locating slots.
The real challlange comes with pushing the steering shaft through it so as not to push the bush out again.
This just takes practice and care, I personally used Vaseline inside the bush and smeared more along the steering shaft too.
This helps with making it easier to slide, but care must be taken to ensure the shaft slides down at the same angle of the tubes, as it's all too easy to pop both bushes out again !
Good luck!
It's just a push fit in to the upper bush, and as you can see from your picture it has little key ways to loacste it.
Then is easy enough to close up,slightly and push back into position, and rotate it with your finger inside it until it clicks into the locating slots.
The real challlange comes with pushing the steering shaft through it so as not to push the bush out again.
This just takes practice and care, I personally used Vaseline inside the bush and smeared more along the steering shaft too.
This helps with making it easier to slide, but care must be taken to ensure the shaft slides down at the same angle of the tubes, as it's all too easy to pop both bushes out again !
Good luck!
You need to remove one of the rubber bushes. You can knock out the bottom bush using a long drift or remove the top bush by making some kind of puller. Probably easier to remove the lower one, but I've removed the top one by using a long bolt (jammed in by another bolt) and connecting long bolt to a ratchet strap attached to the roll bar.
Top tip:- use a little superglue to hold the plastic bush to the rubber and use a file on the upper steering column to put a very slight lead on it (just taking the sharp edge off). Also be very careful and use some lubricant. Sorry if that sounds a bit rude.
Top tip:- use a little superglue to hold the plastic bush to the rubber and use a file on the upper steering column to put a very slight lead on it (just taking the sharp edge off). Also be very careful and use some lubricant. Sorry if that sounds a bit rude.
sfaulds said:
Remove the bottom section of the column to get it out. It's just 2 x M6 caps in front of the scuttle and it pulls forward.
I have just replaced mine and as Stuart says remove the bottom section remove and refit the lower one on the bench, much easier Edited by Guy Lowe on Monday 16th January 17:31
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