bouis

Curiously enough, it seemed more like 3.5 turns with the rack in the car even though it was definately 3.8-3.9 when I turned it with a wrench. I can't tell you precisely why, because mine didn't stay together long enough for me to really investigate.

The problem with mine was that there's a constant upward force on the female fitting that goes over the spline on the steering rack. The female end has a bolt hole and the spline is recessed so that it shouldn't be able to come off, but mine was held on only by the threads. So, a couple dozen turns with the wheels on the ground and it ate through the threads completely, and popped off. Here's a drawing of what I'm trying to describe, with the rack on the left (the bottom) and the universal joints/upper steering column on the right (the top):



Now, I honestly do think that this is limited to my particular column; no one else has mentioned this that I know of. I do also know that the bolt was tight enough. I replaced the bolt and tightened another until the bolt broke and it was never tight enough.

CP racing has been really good about this, but I do have some concerns that I'm not sure a properly fitting part will fix. First, there's a constant upward force on the female end. If it can come loose, it will. Second, the female end is made of soft metal (I guess so that it will tighten down on the spline, and the matching splines are easily worn down if the rack spline is allowed to slip. Second, there's only about 1/2" of the top peice over the spline, despite the fact that the spline is more than three inches long (and it's being pulled up the whole time). Third, where the universal joints meet up the lower steering column, there's a nearly identical spline/fitting, but this one is fine because it's positioned and tightened outside the car (not subject to wear during clumsy fitting in tight quarters, I guess) and also has a 1/4" (approx?) metal split pin driven through a hole in both the spline and the female fitting. I can't see why there's no safety pin at all on the uv-joints to rack spline. If I have any doubts about the replacement, I'm going to drill one myself. Here's what I mean:

82transam

iTrader: (18)

drilling a hole in the that might weaken it. Although the joint coming apart is dangerous as well. Thats a tough call. I should be ordering mine within a month, i'll be interested to see what fun is in store for me.

bouis

Like I said, the top part has an identical fitting reinforced with a hole and pin.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Hmm, so you did. Thats odd that is has it on one side and not the other. You might as well drill the hole just to be safe then.