Steering Bulkhead Bearing

[jchase]

D'oh.

I just bought a recon steering rack and track ends for my 280i, only to find out that all my problems are down to the steering shaft bulkhead bearing.

Help!

Now I called Richard at Wedge, and he can manufacture a replacement Nylon bush, and then fibrglass it in. This makes sense since the steering shaft is never going to be exactly square to the bulkhead. Trouble is my car is in Cambridge, and he is in Sheffield.

Now I looked at the parts list, and I noticed the Rover SD1 steering equipped Wedges have a different bulkhead bearing (Rover? I would guess). Does anyone know what the ID of this bearing is? Mine has a measured shaft of 19.10- mm (3/4 inch). Ideally I want to put a sperical bearing on the shaft, and attach it to the bulkhead. Now I've spent ages finding the spherical bearing, but no body seems to make one with a mounting flange. Arggghhh. and I can't weld it as it has Teflon inside which will be ruined.

Any help or suggestions greatly apprecited. (That don't involve NC machining a slab of ally as a mounting plate!)

-jim, Cambridge

[jchase]

I saw this on the web, for an 'S' series

www.tvrcc-westyorks.co.uk/infopages/how_to/change_the_steering_column_bearing_on_an_s_series/doc.htm

I wonder if anyone knows the dimensions ?

[jchase]

I'm a bit concerned about using the Nylon bearing, it seems like a bit of a poor idea, given the fact the bearing is in the wheel arch, and Nylon absorbs 5% water by mass, it can't last long down there, not with all that swelling and shrinking (oo-er).

(my similar thread on the S forum got the reply that Tower View sell them for £21 - one of the S guys put a superb website together last november showing how to replace the bearing - see the S Forum for the Link.)

I'm also worried because my Tasmin shaft (oo-er #2) is at 80 degrees or so to the bulkhead, so if I stick in a straight bearing, and screw it to the firewall (00-er #3) there may be gentle sounds of fibre glass breaking. What I want, what I really, really want is a 3/4 inch ID spherical bearing fixed to a flange plate. But I can't find one anyplace.

Steve, do you know if the Rover SD1 steering bearing is spherical? The column moves up and down right? so it should be, in theory...

-Jim

[jchase]

Hi Grady, thanks for the info, must have posted while you were posting . Where did you get your bearing from? and was it for an SD1 steering column, TR7 column or other ?

[jchase]

Hi Steve et al,

Well, Looks like I am going to buy a spherical bearing, and make a little fibreglass flange for it, the bearing is gonna cost £40 ! ouch, but it is more for a challenge than anything else. The bearing is stainless with PTFE inner, so should in theory be water tight, and last a long time. I'd like to take some pictures with my camera, and put the mod on a site someplace if anyone has some space for it. In theory this procedure should work for any car, just change the bearing appropriately.

- Jim

[jchase]

Thought you 280i wedge guys might like this, looks just like the one on my TVR, and I'm sure the TR8 is similar.

www.tr8.com/members062131/TR7TR8OC/Visitor/pdf/SteeringBush.pdf

Looks like the TR8 guys are using acetal co-polymer bushings.

-Jim