Posted by Mark in Santa Cruz [172.68.132.216] on Wednesday, July 01, 2020 at 02:11:52 :
In Reply to: I'm stuck... Steering Column reassembly problems posted by Mark in Santa Cruz [172.68.141.181] on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 at 19:16:14 :
OK, I figured out how to properly tighten the bearing housing after reading the service manual and some trial and error, so I thought I would pass it along for anyone else who runs into this problem.
Step 4 of the column reassembly for (Automatic Transmission) Models Up To D300) says…
4) Seat bearing housing on top of jacket while holding retaining screws down so that square nuts will slip down jacket and engage square locking holes provided. Tighten both screws alternately in steps making sure that bearing housing is fully seated on jacket. Torque to 50 inch-pounds.
This is where I was making my mistake. In order to get these nuts seated properly in the square locking holes in the jacket, I had to back the square nut all the way down to the edge of the screw. I then held each screw flush with the housing as I seated the housing over the jacket. It took a couple of tries to get both nuts to drop into the square locking hole and lock but I finally got it tight. I have included a photo below in case it can help someone else.
After figuring this out, I now realize that I incorrectly install the bearing housing on my 1971 W200 as well so I will have to reassemble that steering column too.
I feel a lot better the safety of the steering column now but I still need to find the missing parts listed above.
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