smart51
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| posted on 15/8/06 at 05:47 PM |
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sierra upper column bush
There is a lot of friction in my steering which is unpleasant. I tracked it down to the upper column bush thing, the two piece plastic affair with
the big rubber grommet. So I bought another one which arrived by post today. Just pushing the inner into the outer and turning it there is quite a
lot of friction. Is this normal? Should I be greasing it or something?
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t.j.
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| posted on 15/8/06 at 07:39 PM |
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Is it lined-up? No angles which are to steep. Uj's.
If everything ok, then put on some vaseline or use some white grease to lubricate.
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zetec7
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| posted on 16/8/06 at 03:06 AM |
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If the grommet is made out of rubber, don't use vaseline or other petroleum-based lubricants, as they will cause the rubber to break down in
short order. Use a silicone-based grease (eg. brake-parts grease) or silicone grease from a scuba shop. As it happens, the bushing on my steering
column was less than good, so today I turned a new one out of 25mm PTFE (similar to Teflon) on my little Unimat lathe. Very slick bearing, as
it's self-lubricating, and no rattles or looseness. To retain the bearing in the column, I drilled a small hole through the outer housing &
into the bearing, and used a stout self-tapping screw to secure it in place.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 16/8/06 at 07:11 AM |
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This bush isn't rubber (unless I'm thinking of the wrong thing). It's 2 pieces of hard plastic, probably nylon, with one turning in
the other.
I used some general-purpose grease. You do have to make sure that everything lines up as there shouldn't be any significant stiffness.
David
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smart51
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| posted on 16/8/06 at 07:15 AM |
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Yes, there are two pieces of hard plastic, the outer of which is held in a big rubber grommet. The bearing faces are in plastic.
I'm going to fit the new bearing tonight to see if it is any better than the old.
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smart51
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| posted on 16/8/06 at 07:36 PM |
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Fitted the new bush today, with a bit of grease. It has cured the problem, by a lot. It is so much better now. The old plastic inner has picked up
a bit. it is quite visible. I suppose its cheaper than a proper bearing.
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