manual steering pain in the ass
 

i bought a manual rack and swapped it into my car yesterday.

everything went pretty smooth, except for where the u joint clamps onto the steering shaft.

the shaft on a manual car apparently has a flat spot that lets the bolt slide through the clamp, the power steering car has no such flat spot on the shaft.


instead of finding an intermediate shaft from a manual car, my plan is to run a drill bit through the holes on the clamp to "notch" the shaft. then put a bolt and nut through the clamp to hold it on the shaft.


anyone see a reason not to do this?

Weakening the shaft?

Probably not, but it's worth considering.

the "notch" will be less than 1/8"


i dont see it being a problem. but i wanted some more opinions....

I went the p/s to manual rack.. my p/s shaft had the notch :dunno:

i know...


i searched on m.net and apparently some did, some didnt

You might find that the drill bit wants to enlarge your holes more than it wants to notch the shaft. You my friend need a die grinder. ;)

i was hoping to not take it back apart



FML

Try it out then. Hopefully I am wrong. I've been wrong before. ;)

Drill bits like to be easy like Hustler and go for the nearest available hole. :giggle:

I've never had luck drilling a new hole within 1/2'' of an old hole. It's like heat seeking missile with holes, even with a dimple.

im just going to suck it up, pull it back apart and attack it with an angle grinder.

Smart decision. Drilling would have started another thread "Where can I get a new u-joint?"