Stupid collapsible steering shaft (universal joint knuckle hitting header)

October 13, 2017, 10:54:24 AM

I've already solved this problem, but as I found while Googling, these sorts of posts with pics can be invaluable to the next person who runs into this issue.

When I removed the steering rack, I had trouble separating the steering shaft from the steering column. So, I lowered the steering column and yanked on the steering wheel until it pulled apart. Little did I know that I had also pulled the lower part of the steering column's collapsible shaft out some in the process. Anyway, when replacing the steering rack, I had to lower the steering column and pull it back so I could get the steering shaft "tongue" into the steering column - pretty normal stuff if you've done this before.

So, the stupid steering rack was in, after I had to drive 15 miles to a different Autozone to get a different rack where the Chinese hadn't already pressed some bizarro bushings into the bushing tubes that I couldn't knock out with a sledgehammer.

My T-Bucket, which had to be out of the garage so I could work on the Cougar, got drenched in rain because I had to wait until morning to finish the install

Anyway, I could barely get the car out of the way of the garage entrance because I could barely turn the steering wheel. Couldn't figure out why the steering knuckle was now on the header whereas you can see I ground the shaft for a little clearance where it used to be close to the header tube:

I'm slow or forgetful or something, but it took me a couple of days and Googling to realize I just had to tap the end of the collapsible steering shaft back into the steering column to get me back to (about) where I was before. Still have barely any clearance, but I can try moving the engine and steering column a bit to increase the clearance to a acceptable amount: