The coupling between the steering shaft and the steering rack can and should be welded. The rubber bushing that causes all of the problems is there to isolate vibration from the suspension components from being transferred to the steering wheel. Mine was welded long ago with no real discernible difference in vibration and a real difference in steering feel. Once the rubber begins to separate, there is no other repair available. The end result is total separation and complete loss of steering. FWIW.
Peace, Ben -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of George Graves Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 4:55 PM To: [email protected] Cc: alfa Subject: Re: [alfa] GTV 6 steering column bushing problem Other than buying one from England or other European sources, you have the option of taking the old one out and taking it to a clever machinist and have him replace the rubber with a piece of fabricated aluminum or steel. I have no rubber in my steering system and I don't really notice any difference. Here is a picture of my coupling. the "female" end (left) takes a stock GTV-6 steering column and the "male" end (on the right) fits into a Milano rack. This takes the place of that rubber coupling. You could make a similar one with the GTV-6 UV "knuckle" on one end and the GTV-6 rack spline on the other with just a solid piece of shaft in the center to make up the proper length. [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/jpeg which had a name of Figure 1. Power steering adapter.jpg] George Graves '86 GTV-6 3.0 'S' On Dec 29, 2011, at 1:38 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Hi George, > I spoke with John Norman and new parts are not available, except > possibly on eBay from one of the few sellers in the Middle East/ > Mediterranean or who knows will have a NOS part here. The big thing > is, why do they fail and how do you fix it so it stays fixed? > Stevan > > In a message dated 12/29/2011 12:09:58 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, > [email protected] > writes: > Yes, this is a common failure mode on this car. The bushing has a > rubber collar that separates two metal steering column connectors from > one another. When that coupling fails, it usually breaks the ground > wire that "jumps" the rubber bushing in order to allow the steering > column to be grounded - which is necessary for the horn to work. The > failure can cause the horn to either quit entirely or, become > intermittent depending on whether or not the wire has parted > completely. The big danger with this failure is that the steering > itself can fail altogether IF the rubber collar breaks completely > loose. It's so important that this dampening bushing not fail, that I > would try to buy a new one, if possible, and not rely on a used one. > When I fitted power steering from a Milano to my GTV-6, I had an > adapter made-up to mate the GTV-6 steering column to the Milano's > power steering rack (which are different). Since the Milano system > doesn't use this rubber collar between the steering column and the > rack, my car no longer uses this part. > > > George Graves > '86 GTV-6 3.0 'S' > > > > > On Dec 29, 2011, at 8:05 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > > I just found that on my low mileage 1983 GTV 6, that is has a fairly > > common problem in the steering column. There's a bushing in there > > that > wears, > > allowing enough play so that the horn doesn't always work. > > Specifically, if I > > push the top of the steering wheel away from me, no horn. If I pull > > the top of the wheel toward me, it works fine. > > > > I have a good used one coming and won't be taking things apart until > > that arrives and survives inspection. I kind of expect the problem > > to be some variety of poor bushing material and lack of grease on > > assembly, so I'm strongly considering adding a grease fitting. > > > > Has anyone else had to deal with this? Comments? How common a > > problem is it? > > Stevan Thomas > > 1983 GTV 6 > > 1973 Berlina > > -- > > to be removed from alfa, see > > http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi > > or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
