111 280SE 3.5 steering coupler repair - tips?

[meltedpanda]

IMHO , the design of their box is epic, with the ball bearings and such. When right , it is a very good, time proven design and system. Its just that us ol car guys are inheriting the old cars. This system maintenance for this unit was often overlooked and results in what a lot of us deal with now

[sjefke]

Finally fixed the steering coupler. I went at it from the bottom and it was not a bad job at all, imho. I had more problems getting the coupler out than back in (because it was already in 2 pieces and one part kept getting stuck on the box shaft). The steering box is heavy, but it does not have much room to move in the V8 setup, which is kind of good because it will not fall down. I had no need to support it. It just wedged itself nicely.

Old coupler came off with some wiggling. I had snagged a later type coupler from the scrapyard which slid on easily. The box slipped on easily too and I easily got the box bolted to the frame again. It was so easy, that I decided to overhaul my old one.

I know now why I could not get the bushins in from under the car. The hole is not all the way through and has a lip on the clip side. You can seen it in the first picture. So you need to get the coupler out and split apart to get the new bushing in. New bushings were a breeze to put in. I put it together just with pliers. I squeezed the coupled halfs a bit and that was all that was needed to put the spring rings and clips on. I was done in 10 minutes. Half of that was spent on cleaning the coupler. You can see the finished product in the pictures. I also included a picture of the newer type coupler that is non-repairable.

The overhauled coupler is back in the car. I have not done a test drive yet, but play is obviously gone. Again, managing the box was quite easily. Bottom bolt holes are clearly visible and left hand is enough to support and guide the box so you can turn the bolts with your right. Whole job including set up and cleaning took about 1.5 hours.

To repair, you need the following parts:

2 x 912002010001 (lock washer) - $1.52 each
2 x 000137010205 (spring clip) - $0.80 each
2 x 1114620165 (bushing - listed as "seal ring P/S Pump") - $3.76 each

So for $12 you can rebuild this thing better than new. Honestly, as long as you can get the bushings and spring clips, these couplers can be repaired in perpetuity. No need to ever buy a new one.

Glad that is done!

Thank you all for your input and help,

Bert

[meltedpanda]

yes - good work,! inspirational actually made sure you steering shaft was all the way in right?
Doing it the way you did - could you see that it was all the way seated

[sjefke]

Column shaft is a squarish shaft and slides as much as you want. The allen bolt there only squeezes the coupler and theoretically it can slide off.

The box shaft has a grove in it. You cannot get that allen bolt through the coupler unless that bolt is aligned in the groove. There is really not much play between the parts once you puch the box back in place. The box shaft is so long that you can't really install it without seating the coupler correctly.

I hope the steering is straight. It was off when I started and I did do an adjustment, which is actually fairly easy to do when the box is loose, but a drive test will tell. Can't be worse than what it was. If it is bad, I'll do another adjustment sometime in the future.

Bert