Hi folks,
the bottom UJ on my column is giving me just a twinge of concern. The spline is OK - a perfect match but:

the hole for the retaining bolt is further down the spline meaning an exposed section of spline about 1.5 - 2.00 mm long. Ie. very slightly less spline in contact. Sould this worry me, or for that matter the SVA man or am I being paranoid.

Also the original escort spline is almost fully closed with a mere 'slit' for pinching up. This one has a bigger area of open space in the clamp.

What do we think? - and any suggestions for an alternative UJ.

Cheers

Mike

I was worried about this too - it just looks sooooo 'only just'. When I mentioned it to my supplier he assured me it was normal.

Make sure you use a 12.9 bolt/caphead in the clamp.
8.8 have been known to fail
A friends racing team had one fail on the track.
Seriously not funny.

no way you can fail a 8.8 with the steering equipment!

I bet they overtightened the bolt and then it broke while using it but only because it was already damaged...

to shear of a M8 8.8 bolt there is serious power needed!!

TKS

The clamp bolt shouldn't take any force, the splines are there to do that.

Perhaps you would like to:

a. Inform Ford of your wisdom. (I'm sure they would love to downgrade the bolt used in this application.)

b. Tell the driver that had one shear whilst on the track that it was just a figment of his imagination.

I'm sure that some "experts" on this forum would argue that the text you are now reading was in fact white not black.

donīt wee off that fast please...

The bolt only bends the part in suchs way that the splines bite in each other and that the cut closes..

If you would say that triangular bolt, that one takes force...

Car manufactures have allot of other rulez than we have you know that!

Did you never over tightened a bolt? to the point that you feel that the force needed reduced instead of increased? that the point where the bolt is still intact but passed his flex limit...

and that also the point where the bolt still holds but not as muchs as we would like.

TKs

quote:

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Originally posted by Peteff
The clamp bolt shouldn't take any force, the splines are there to do that.

---

if it would come loose you still would be able to steer albeit you would have some more play..

wich offcourse woudnīt give you much confidence...

Tks

p.d. We should make sure we arenīt talking about the triangular tube UJ..

Yawn!

Yeah right, once the bolt is tight the splines take the turning force. Don't race teams check this stuff? ( I bet they do now)

a. Inform Ford of your wisdom. (I'm sure they would love to downgrade the bolt used in this application.)
I think they'd rather leave the splines off and save a lot more money.
b. Tell the driver that had one shear whilst on the track that it was just a figment of his imagination.
I don't have a friend with a race team, or an argument.
Yawn, yawn.

[Edited on 9/8/06 by Peteff]

In the case of my replacement quick rack, the splined shaft is very slightly smaller than the one on the old rack, and it needs the bolt done up REALLY tight to get a good connection. I suspect that if the bolt came completely undone the splined shaft would soon destroy the tips of the splines and rotate without hinderance.

...which would be rather scary.

My bolt is thread-locked into place!

David