This has been my experience as well.
George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0 'S'
On Dec 29, 2011, at 3:08 PM, Ben Ament wrote:
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
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