How To Replace your Lower Column Bearing: Better and Cheaper!!!

[72bluNblu]

I plan to install the SER205-16 bearing in my 72 Demon. The car was originally a manual trans car and does not have a shift tube. I also want to shorten the housing for more header clearance. My question is can this be performed without removing the column from the car? I was thinking that I could use a chain pipe cutter to shorten the tube and remove the gear box and u-joint to install the bearing. Any advice would be appreciated.

Below is a picture of what I have.

Thanks,
Mike

It will be much easier to remove the column than it would be to try to do this in the car. To get the bearing over the end of the steering column you have to remove the pin that holds the coupler on, and it should be pressed out.

 

[72_671_Demon]

I don't think you could do this in the car. Its only a few screws and nuts in the car and it pulls right out.

It will be much easier to remove the column than it would be to try to do this in the car. To get the bearing over the end of the steering column you have to remove the pin that holds the coupler on, and it should be pressed out.

Ok thanks for the replies. I'm convinced, I will pull the column sounds like it's worth the effort.

Mike

 

[airwoofer]

Here's my theory... The manual shift cars would get a lot more abuse on the steering wheel / shaft. That's why they had better bearings.

How many drag cars have steering wheels that are bent? Mine does.

BTW. I want to do this to my Demon. And ditch the manual column. Tuff wheel setup would be best.

 

[70-duster]

Thanks for all this info. I just purchased the Er-16 bearing. I wasn't sure what column my 70 duster had in it, but it was converted to a floor shifter at some point. I ended up scoring a complete 1970 column on eBay for $60 so I took all the guys out of my column and put it on the 70 column. This bearing is the ticket. Come to find out from the pictures on this thread that my column I had was a 73-74 column. Once I get this bearing and button up my 70 column, would anyone need a 73-74 column and the parts I didn't use? PM me. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Yote]

Re: 72 demon ,4 speed
How do you get bearing on the shaft? The pin through the shaft that goes into coupler is extremely tight, couldn't press it out with a vise. Or does it slip on from the top by steering wheel ? If so how does that come apart ?
Yote

 

[72_671_Demon]

Re: 72 demon ,4 speed
How do you get bearing on the shaft? The pin through the shaft that goes into coupler is extremely tight, couldn't press it out with a vise. Or does it slip on from the top by steering wheel ? If so how does that come apart ?
Yote

When I did mine, I used an air chisel with a blunt end punch. It still took a little effort to get out but it finally did come out.

 

[Yote]

Got it. Thank you. Only bearing I could find to fit was called a Don Dye bearing # Esf 18-32 by my John Deere parts guy . It's a much lighter bearing but should be plenty adequate, beats plastic .
Yote

 

[abodyjoe]

Cool idea

 

[Steve69Fish]

With the bearing on tight to the shaft by set screws rather than just guiding the shaft, does it in any way impede the column collapse or any other movement of the column?

 

[72bluNblu]

With the bearing on tight to the shaft by set screws rather than just guiding the shaft, does it in any way impede the column collapse or any other movement of the column?

Shouldn't.

The bearing is only held to the shaft by a set screw, and the bearing itself is only a light press into the column jacket. So more than likely, in the case of an accident the steering shaft would slide through the bearing and the shaft would collapse as normal, since nothing on the top end changed. If the steering shaft didn't slide through the bearing, it would likely just push the bearing further up the column jacket and the shaft would collapse as normal.

Keep in mind that the bearing doesn't really need to be all that tight on the steering shaft. All it's doing is keeping the steering shaft from flopping around in the column jacket, so there just has to be more resistance between the bearing and shaft than there is in the bearing itself. The bearing won't have enough resistance on the steering shaft or the column jacket to freeze out the collapsible section of the steering shaft.

Now, on my car I left the C-clip in place on the bearing, so it won't slide into the column jacket further, but I also have a telescoping DD shaft spliced into my steering shaft between the column jacket and the steering coupler.

 

[RedFish]

I've never considered column collapse from bottom up. In a collision our chest hits steering wheel, column collapses and fingers go to dash. Thus the need for a dash pad. Lower pads were added for the 68 model to protect our knees. All this safety innovation was pre shoulder belts and latching seat backs.

 

[Steve69Fish]

I see both your points. In a hit hard enough to warrant a column collapse, those set screws aren't locking the column solid. Since I found my coupler top spinning freely about a quarter inch above the coupler body this weekend and am planning to rebuild that (thanks Motopsycho), I'll likely do this at the same time.

 

[65Val]

Now thats slick. Will this work on a 67 column thats been converted to floor shift or is a different bearing needed for that?

OK...I reactivated this thread to see if anyone has done this on a '67 column, which is apparently~2.25 in. tube, as opposed to later columns that are 2" diameter.

I can't seem to find a 1" ID, 2.25" OD insert bearing.

---OR---

..is there a bearing that will fit into the plastic bushing to replace the rotted out original one?

 

[ken5124]

I have my steering column out to install a Flaming river coupler, Manual steer , floor shift car

The tube dimension is 52 mm ( 2 inches) and the shaft is 3/4 inch.

Do you think I will need to sleeve the steering shaft to fit in the 1 inch bearing ( er-16)?

The original pictures in this post seem to show a smaller than 1 inch shaft, with the set screws centering it ??

Thoughts?

 

[junior636]

I have my steering column out to install a Flaming river coupler, Manual steer , floor shift car

The tube dimension is 52 mm ( 2 inches) and the shaft is 3/4 inch.

Do you think I will need to sleeve the steering shaft to fit in the 1 inch bearing ( er-16)?

The original pictures in this post seem to show a smaller than 1 inch shaft, with the set screws centering it ??

Thoughts?

On mine the shaft is 3/4 at the steering box but enlarges to 1" where the bearing goes. Look back at page 2 and you can see where it increases in size.

 

[ken5124]

Mine is solid 1 dimension, no transition up to 1 inch... I am going to order a 7/8 diameter bearing as well SER205-14 so it will be a tighter fit... They don't make that style of bearing in a 3/4 shaft size with 52 mm outer size..

being that it is really just positioning the shaft in the center of the tube, it should be fine. perhaps a chunk of 3/4 copper water pipe as a sleeve might work.

 

[LJ67barracuda340]

67 manual steer Barracuda. I replaced the old broken bearing with a common inexpensive double rubber seal roller bearing.
remove column and the old bearing, save the collar with the set screws.
the column has to be stripped apart from the top
used a hole saw the size of the OD of the new bearing to cut to the depth of the width of the new bearing. Internal saw blade used to cut the plastic core out. press the new bearing into the plastic, assemble the column and flip the collar around and use it with the set screws to lock the bearing in. works great, nice and smooth.
I replaced the stock coupler with a flaming river universal type joint also.

 

[65Val]

67 manual steer Barracuda. I replaced the old broken bearing with a common inexpensive double rubber seal roller bearing.
remove column and the old bearing, save the collar with the set screws.
the column has to be stripped apart from the top
used a hole saw the size of the OD of the new bearing to cut to the depth of the width of the new bearing. Internal saw blade used to cut the plastic core out. press the new bearing into the plastic, assemble the column and flip the collar around and use it with the set screws to lock the bearing in. works great, nice and smooth.
I replaced the stock coupler with a flaming river universal type joint also.

This is a great idea!!! Thanks for posting it!

 

[RedFish]

If you ever wondered why the factory engineers went with such a pissy excuse for a bearing there.... You would have to see the resistance produced by a failed roller bearing. If that roller bearing locks up, you will not turn the steering wheel.

 

[LJ67barracuda340]

If you ever wondered why the factory engineers went with such a pissy excuse for a bearing there.... You would have to see the resistance produced by a failed roller bearing. If that roller bearing locks up, you will not turn the steering wheel.

I'm not sure why you think the roller bearing might lock up. The unsealed bicycle type bearing that was in my column was getting crunchy and tighter as it was failing. The roller I installed is sealed on both sides to keep the grease in, lightly pressed into the plastic collar and is a slip fit on the shaft not pressed on. It also rotates at a slow speed. Just curious and not trying to start a fight, LOL.

 

[72bluNblu]

If you ever wondered why the factory engineers went with such a pissy excuse for a bearing there.... You would have to see the resistance produced by a failed roller bearing. If that roller bearing locks up, you will not turn the steering wheel.

Don't make the mistake of assuming the factory assembly was only the result of engineering best practices. Cost plays a HUGE factor in what designs actually hit the assembly line. The factory engineers could have spec'd a nice roller bearing, been told it cost too much, and then relented to the bean counters that the crappy excuse for a bearing they actually installed would "work well enough" for the intended design lifespan. These cars were never designed to last more than 10 years.

There are plenty of other components that are MUCH more likely to fail that would have just as catastrophic result. Like a wheel bearing, for example.

I'm not sure why you think the roller bearing might lock up. The unsealed bicycle type bearing that was in my column was getting crunchy and tighter as it was failing. The roller I installed is sealed on both sides to keep the grease in, lightly pressed into the plastic collar and is a slip fit on the shaft not pressed on. It also rotates at a slow speed. Just curious and not trying to start a fight, LOL.

I don't see how the sealed insert bearing would ever fail under the conditions it's being used in. It's subjected to almost no force at all, turns slowly enough to never develop any heat, and is sealed from the elements. It will probably outlast most of the other components in the car.

But, if it did fail it might be strong enough to lock out the steering. Less so in the early cars like the one you did above because of the use of the plastic shell, but in the later cars were the insert bearing is lightly pressed right into the column jacket it would be hard to overcome that with just the steering wheel. The crappy little factory bearing just falls apart, even with just normal use. I've seen several that are missing at least a few of their balls. ;)

Even if it did fail, because of the low heat and stress conditions it wouldn't likely fail catastrophically, or suddenly while in use. If the seals failed and it got gummed up it would be noticeable long before the bearing stopped turning. Not like an overcooked wheel bearing which can have a catastrophic failure due to heat and stress.

 

[pishta]

Why did the factory even put a bearing there when you got a roller bearing up top, and a steering box bearing on the bottom to support the entire steering shaft? Only thing I can think of is the steering column assembly shipped with this pitiful support on the bottom to do 2 things: Keep the shaft semi rigid for transport and assembly line handling, and to stop hot air and road crap from entering the bottom of the steering column. I cant see a 3rd support bearing even needed if they were pinching pennies.

 

[LJ67barracuda340]

because the slipper joint between the steering box and the column is a misalignment joint and not a support bearing

 

[bryan Schaupp]

Steering shaft. Are you calling the shift tube the selector shaft? Either way, the I.D. of the bearing above would be way too small for the shift tube.

The column shift bushings without the roller/ball bearings inside just keep the shift tube in place so it's not loose inside the jacket. It also keeps out road dust to an extent. In addition, there's also usually a foam seal that goes around the shift tube but those disintegrate over time.



That rubber is an isolator for the upper parts of the column where the driver's hands are. It absorbs vibrations transmitted through the steering shaft.

Just wanted to post some notes here and clarify a few things - the column I posted above was in fact a column shift from my '71 Duster. The shift tube was removed but that lower bearing/bushing thing is actually "correct" for a column shift. Other years vary with different lower bearing/retainer set ups but you should be able to make this work in most cases.

Most of you probably know that floor shift columns have an actual bearing, secured with either two or three screws - that's the $80 repro part that everyone always groans about. The $5 insert bearing essentially takes the place of that in case you were unsure.

If you don't mind the somewhat "incorrect" column shift bushing remaining in place after you take out the shift tube and don't care about %100 correct column appearance then this is the ticket when converting to a floor shift. Most wouldn't even notice the column shift bushing and retainer anyway since it looks factory.

Great information.

I just went through my column shift unit and replaced the lower bearing with a sealed bearing and used a Delrin sleeve to support the shift tube. I had the sealed bearing left over from a Pan head Chopper project. I could have saved me some trouble if I saw this first. A lot of good ideas.

I am reading and learning a lot on this site.

Thanks.

Bryan

 

[67dartgtgo]

The 67s have the 2 1/4" column jacket/exterior tube and if your nylon/plastic bushing is all cracked or broken doing what I did is a consideration. I'm in the process of a column rebuild on my 67 and my nylon bushing was pretty broken up and the bearing was just about totally disintegrated. I cut my bushing down to 1/2" wide and slid it over the shift tube then up inside the column jacket.