12 replies to this topic

[BigDave99]

Hey

I have a 1995 mayfair and i bought one of those little steering wheel adjuster brackets, firstly im struggling to get the bolt off. secondly all the insturctions i read say loosen off the four bolts in the floor so that the column can be moved - well mine doesnt have four bolts at all, all i seem to have is a sleeve that disappears through the floor and then my column goes into that which has like a bolt going through it to tighten it into the sleeve. sorry if known of that made sense. Has anyone else seen this? what do i do?

Cheers everyone

Dave

[wile e coyote]

I think there's confusion goin on here - the four bolts referred to are for the U clamps that hold the rack to the floor - remove your front carpet and you'll easily find 2 in each footwell

[MRA]

You will actually see four nuts not bolts, you loosen only sufficiently to allow the rack to turn and realign your "dropped" steering column with the steering rack input shaft, being very careful not to move your steering at all !! if this is not done correctly as you steer it will force the clamp resulting in loose (on the splines at the bottom) steering and if left could lead to fatal results.

Now this is NOT meant to scare you but to simply make you aware thatyou have to do the job carefully and also what to "look out" for later on...... if your steering goes a little slack check the splines, you can do this by simply getting your head down by the splines and wiggling the steering looking for any movement.

[Dan]

Please take this seriously and do it properly. We have already had around 6 members so far this year asking why they have lost or are slowly loosing all control over their steering and it has been due to a bodged steering column drop bracket every time.

[MRA]

Hi,

We sell loads of steering adjuster brackets, and have for some time enclosed fitting instructions, this is to a) aid the customer when fitting our brackets and b) make fitting these brackets a safe and easy task to complete.

Regards Martin

[BigDave99]

Thankyou very much gentlemen, all advice appreciated and i will take my time over it! Any advice for removing the damn sheer bolt?

[MRA]

Yes you will need a drill and a what is often called an "easy out" which is for extracting broken bolts and studs, get one for an mate bolt this will do fine........ or if you want to PM me I'll see if I can get you one..... unless someone would be willing to lend you the tools to do the job

[Dan6061]

I wish I had instructions with my one!
I got the bolt out, put the adjuster in, and had it sat right at the top when I fitted the bracket, as it felt best, but it was very stiff to move. I wasn't aware that I had to loosen the 4 bolts on the rack first!
When I found out a while ago, I did loosen it all off, wobbled the steering a bit, then tightened them all back up again. Would I have done any damage though? With it being right at the top of the bracket without me loosening the 4 bolts first?

I did have a few mis-haps with the steering, but I put that down to the really cheap budget tyres I had on at the time (Infinity ones) In the wet, I'd turn into a corner/roundabout, and carry on going forwards a bit, then turn in...

Worried I've damaged the splines now. What happens if I have?

[Dan]

What happens is you might suddenly loose all control of the car. If it's installed properly now then in theory no further damage is being done but you don't know how much wear had developed before you altered it. If the steering has caused you some concern you should check it. The problem usually associated with wear is the steering wheel turning noticably further than the road wheels or vice versa and a notchy feel. When it's very bad you have to turn the wheel a long way to get the car to go where you want, especially when returning to the straight ahead or you have to rattle the wheel about to get it to engage the steering rack. It's terrifying but some people seem not to notice their car is developing a problem and keep driving in this condition. You need to lift out the column and inspect the condition of the splines, it's easily done. They should show very little wear ideally.

[Dan6061]

Oh ok, well when I'm driving along and twitch the steering wheel about, the car is very responsive. So I guess it's ok?
So the splines are at the bottom then? Guessing they connect the column to the driveshafts? I might have a look tomorrow... Think I have a day of Mini fixing ahead of me!

[Dan]

They are at the bottom of the column, inside it. It's the joint between the column and the pinion of the steering rack. Remove the pinch bolt and you can slide the inner column up slightly to inspect them. They should look nice and squarely cut with good, well pronounced shoulders. Really you have to look inside the column becsue that's where they tend to wear but you will have to do a bit more stripping down to do that. If it feels properly responsive it's probably fine to be honest. If you do this, while stripping and rebuilding it never let the weight of the column hang on the pinion.

This isn't an MPi car is it? If it is then there are procedures to follow regarding the airbag that also have to be taken seriously. I'm guessing it's not an MPi car because you've used the normal drop bracket but some members have used them on MPis in the past.

[Dan6061]

Ok thanks! I'll have a look tomorrow. It's an Spi by the way, no air bags!

[MRA]

You may also like to check that your bolt running through the bottom of the rack is in fact a 1/4" UNF of the correct length, I have recently removed an old bracket and column to find an M5 bolt in its place..... and it was very damaged just ripe for failing.

Makesure that the shank (plain section of bolt shaft) goes nearly all the way through