Lower manual steering coupler.

It feels like I have some play in my coupler. When I turn my wheel from side to side with it parked in the garage I can hear the play in the coupler. It also feels like I can push my steering wheel in and pull it out, ever so slightly but I feel it never the less.

Am I playing with fire here?

It's a 1974 CJ6. I suppose this is what I need to order. Not sure if I need any special tools? Anyone?

http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?partID=10955

 

I just replaced the one on my 73 CJ5. No special tools, pretty straightforward. The boot on mine was open, which is why I was changing it. Did find that there was quite a bit of slop in the parts when I took it apart. You should have no trouble installing this kit.

P.S. It doesn't sound like yours is very worn, according to the description you give. It has to have a little clearance. The biggest culprit that I found was slop in the U joint further up the steering shaft.

 

The steering shaft bell coupler is a poor design to begin with. After messing with the rebuild kit (more slop then the worn out original) and no improvement i went with the Borgson shaft. If you can swing the 260 bucks for a after-market steering shaft its a worth while upgrade.

The up and down movement in the steering column is normal.

 

never have had any play in mine, does what it's supposed to do.
a little up and down is normal as mentioned.
sliding the bell off the steering gear is the only challenge if it's really crusty.
Just make sure you get the right one for power steering or manual steering.

 

I never had luck with it. I rebuilt it with the omix kit and it was just as bad as before. Just the way its designed it wont be as "tight" as a u joint.

 

There's the biggest problem.

No, it won't be as tight as a u-joint but it also helps absorb some of the road shocks through the steering system. Personally I prefer the u-joints but if a quality bell coupler is used in a stock type application they work quite well.

 

oops I forgot to take that into consideration.
the factory OEMs were good and tight.

 

Its probably the omix kit that put me off to it. haha i spend 3hours under the jeep screwing with that thing! If i could of gotten it to work i wouldn't of changed out to the borgeson unit.

 

I hate to hear that about the Omix kit, but I'm going to go with it anyway. Maybe power steering down the road but for now, I just want to make sure it's safe.


My kit should be in today. I fiddled with it last night. I took the bolt out and slid the clamp down the shaft. Is that bell suppose to slide down towards the steering gear box? If so, I need to get a wire brush after it because it is a bit crusty. Just not sure which way to start encouraging it to go.

 

double post.

 

I'm about to put this new coupler together and back on. I reckon regular old axle grease will work here won't it?

 

yes, but don't overdue it.
you don't want to pop the boot seal

 

Gothca.

Thanks for the tip!