In the
steering column and rack and pinion set up on the DeLorean, one
of the more common failures that we see these days is the
steering column bushing. On the fire wall, where the steering column
goes through the firewall there is a bushing, and that bushing will
either dry-rot or disintegrate with age and when it does, it will cause a
lot of left and right, up and down movement of the steering column when
you are sitting in the car. It’s fairly obvious if you just sort of
stand outside the car and grab hold of the wheel and shake it and you
feel a lot of excess movement, 9 times out of 10 that’s where the problem lies.
If you kneel down outside the car, and shine a flashlight to where the steering column goes through the firewall in the driver's side footwell, you can
see where the bushing should be and if there is movement there, that confirms the failure of the steering column bushing. Also the bushing can sometimes dry out and you’ll have a groaning or you feel a little of resistance and
vibration through the steering column. If you are experiencing that,
it’s just a simple case of getting some WD-40 or some silicone lubricant and shooting it up from
the inside of the car onto the bushing and moving the wheel left to
right until the grinding goes away.
If the bushing itself needs to be replaced,
there are two ways to do it, one is to remove the universal joints from
inside the driver’s side wheel well, and then remove the securing bolts
for the steering column, disconnect the wires for the various switches
that are on the steering column, remove the column, install the bushing
in the firewall and then reinstall everything.
We have found most times
a quicker and easier way is that once you obtain the new bushing, you will see there is a casting mark on the bushing
that runs across it. What we do is
just on one side we will cut it so
that it allows you to open up the bushing up. Then put the
bushing in warm water to make it soft and apply some grease or lubricant around it, and then
from inside the car, apply it in place and use a pry bar or large
screw driver pry it into place where
it will actually lock into the firewall. For best results, orientate the split that
you put in it to allow it to go around the column to the top so
when you do lubricate it, the actual lubrication will go in and gives it
a nice easy track to penetrate all the way around the shaft.
Article ID: 71, Created On: 5/11/2011, Modified: 6/14/2011