Help remove steering coupler

H

HYME

Member
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
Anyone have pointers on removing the steering coupler?
I found two bolts and removed them both thinking this coupler would just slide off but it doesn't even move. Don't know if i'm doing something wrong or I'm just too weak.
 
HYME said:
Anyone have pointers on removing the steering coupler?
I found two bolts and removed them both thinking this coupler would just slide off but it doesn't even move. Don't know if i'm doing something wrong or I'm just too weak.
Click to expand...

My steering wheel had about an 8th of an inch play and I wanted to get it fixed, took the dealer hours, they claimed its a tedious job with a lot of pieces to keep track of. Good luck.
 
I only need the coupler off to allow header to slip in. I know John did his own headers, lets see if he chimes in and saves me from my frustration
here is what it looks like
attachment.php

#9 joint AKA steering coupler
 
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when the steering column & the rack are both bolted in place, the coupler has no where to go, the space between them is next to nothing when both in place, just enough for the coupler to couple. you have to unbolt the rack, remove one of the 2 bolts in the coupler to either leave the coupler on one side or the other, then pull the rack down as the coupler slides out... orientation is important & don't let anyone spin the steering wheel with the rack dropped, make sure it goes back in exactly as it came out...
 
So after it was all put together I noticed my steering wheel was slightly angled one way.
When I was putting the knuckle/joint on the steering column back on I noticed my column actually slides up and down. With the steering rack bolted in place I was able to remove the lower bolt on the knuckle/joint and slide it up and off. It slide fairly easy this time around since I used an anti-sieze grease on it. It took a couple tries but I finally got it perfect.
The steering column I have looks like a two piece with a small rubber boot right by the sensor on the header. It's at this boot where one piece slides into the other enough to disconnect the column from bottom and rotate or swing around if sliding headers in.

Do you have the telescope steering wheel? Maybe that has something to do with it?
 
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hmm, that's strange... didn't think it'd work that way...

actually now that I really think of it, I don't think I disconnected that coupler at all to put my headers in, I just unbolted the 2 main rack bolts to the frame & moved the whole rack over to the left enough to slide the header in... sorry I diodn't get to this response in time for you though, glad it worked out though...
 
My rack had four bolts, but yeah I actually removed that lower bolt on the coupler & the coupler off the rack several times trying to get the angle of the steering wheel perfect.
Only way to check it was to take a short drive.

Now that I've driven it a bit more, I noticed it still gets hot under the hood, i'm thinking not much of that heat is the headers but just the motor itself since it has very poor ventilation under our hood. John, we need a very descrete hood scoop! If it came up just a little more in the center and was open only on the windshield side maybe it would cause a vacuum effect and help ventilate some air out from under the hood. I noticed it's all sealed up underneath, maybe removing some of this seal would even help, who knows.
 
haha, I had the same thoughts :tongue: I thought about a hood scoop, one of the possibilities is exactly the way you said... get another hood, cut the whole center out, curve it slightly more & lay it on top of the existing hood & weld it in, then gut undernieth... kinda like a cowl induction... only problem is, they call it cowl induction for a reason.. the cowl will not be a good place to draw air out of the engine compartment, it's a spot of high turbulence & it really won't help all that much to vent the underhood... but it can be a good place to suck air in from like a cowl induction,just ain't going to help for cooling unless you create this suction & then force it out undernieth... might work but not so practical really... would work better as vents across the flat of the hood, that would at least extract air & promote airflow...

best thing may be to get the new fx fender vents, at least that'll be functional :wub::tongue:
 
Thats one of the features I think make the newer fx's not as attractive, but yeah I thought about that as well. Maybe this weekend i'll stare at it for a while and see if some sort of idea clicks.
 
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