play in the steering

[yung-gun]

how much play should the steering wheel have?

[Jos]

You mean how far should it turn before it has any effect on direction? About the same as your average car ferry is normal

Mine has about 10 degrees probably but the guibo is fooked

[yung-gun]

cheers man

[yung-gun]

just been out to check the guibo and its extremely deteriorated

would it be possible for it to snap all together and lose all steering?

[alan1272]

yep. get it changed.

[Brianmoooore]

There should be zero free play at the rim of the steering wheel.
The design of the coupling is such that the coupling would still transmit drive, even if the disc failed completely, although there'd be a lot of free play in the wheel.

[yung-gun]

Did a replacement with a volvo 340 guibo. Feels like a brand new car

[yung-gun]

Did a replacement with a volvo 340 guibo. Feels like a brand new car

[mcbonio]

Has anyone replaced the steering lower joint guibo yet? Is this the part that improves loose steering?

I've got about 6 inches of play in my wheel, and the actual U joint rattles when I shake it....

[yung-gun]

there should be a metal cup halfway down the steering link. this has a rubber joint in the middle of it linking the 2 sides of the linkage together. i had that problem 2 weeks ago. replaced that and it improved the steering tenfold

[mcbonio]

Yeah, got the parts ordered from Cotswold BMW.!

[mcbonio]

Ok so just had a look at the steering joint guibo, the thing is riveted on with 4 fat ass rivets.!

How did you get them out and what hardware did you use to fasten the new one in?

How did you get the steering joint out also?

[mcbonio]

Ok been reading a little, if I drop the steering rack bolts without disconnecting the lines or tie rods it should provide enough clearance to get the steering joint off.?

Where is the all knowledgeable Brianmoore when you need him?

[yung-gun]

Hi mate, i just loosened the bolts that clamp the linkage to the splined shaft on the bulk head side of the linkage and on the steering rack side. a bit of gentle persuasion and it came free. as for the rivets all i did was drill the heads off them and knock them through with a punch. replaced my old guibo with a Volvo 340 one which has done the job brilliantly and just re attached it with bolts in place of the rivets

[mcbonio]

Good stuff, really need to do this on mine today, the whole joint rattles and transmits through to the wheel its that bad.!

[Brianmoooore]

Note that the bolts MUST be special shouldered ones, from BMW.
If the shaft refuses to budge, it can help if you loosen the LH steering rack bolt and completely remove the RH one. This allows the rack pinion to move forwards, away from the linkage. You can also try opening up the pinch gap in the clamps very slightly, by driving in the ip of a large flat blade screwdriver.

[mcbonio]

I'm guessing the thread on a normal bolt might begin to wear the inner holes of the guibo?

[yung-gun]

mine was terrible. felt like i was and actor in a 1950's movie! i used the same bolts that came off the 340 rack. and i knocked a dent into the top of them to help them lock

[Brianmoooore]

A 'normal' bolt will put a compression load on the guibo. The shoulders of the special bolts bear against one side of the drive flanges, and the locknuts tighten up against the other sides, thus forming rigidly mounted pins for the guibo, will no loads on it in a direction it wasn't designed to be loaded.

[bmw_325i]

Fit bolt part 32311153995, #6 in this realoem diagram

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=30&hl=13

[mcbonio]

Hey, not sure how you got the steering joint out without dropping the rack. Mine just won't budge, can't even get any tools in to persuade it. How exactly did you get it out?

[yung-gun]

Between the turren and the manifold. just 2x 13mm spanners on the top and bottom of the linkage and the tapped it from underneath

[mcbonio]

did you slide it further down one spline first, to get the other off then slid the whole thing off?

[yung-gun]

Yeah mate. i just slid the whole linkage up from the bottom (the steering rack side) i had to take the bolt completely out of the clasp in order to get it free enough to move. tapped it from the bottom with a bar and hammer lightly and it just edged it's way off. moved it clear of the rack and just pushed it down and it came off the column side easily

[DanThe]

Just take the RH bolt out of the rack, slacken the LH and swing it forwards, takes minutes, is much easier and your less likely to have to hammer anything

[Brianmoooore]

Just take the RH bolt out of the rack, slacken the LH and swing it forwards, takes minutes, is much easier and your less likely to have to hammer anything

^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ as I posted ten posts up the thread, nearly a week ago!

[mcbonio]

Ok, will tackle it next weekend. Cheers guys.!

[luckyrob]

Does anyone know why the Guibo is there in the first place?!

Surely it will always give a slightly 'delayed' feeling to the steering compared with if it had some form of solid mount?

Feel free to put me straight if I'm talking utter rubbish

[mcbonio]

I'd imagine it's for vibration and comfort.

[yung-gun]

Indeed it is

[mcbonio]

Ok did this job this morning, went smoothly. Was a bit of faffing getting the joint back in but I didn't have to drop the rack so all is good.

Steering is muuuuuch better and actually feels like its related to the wheels.!

Thanks guys.

[yung-gun]

Quick image of the condition of mine when removed

Just waiting for my mate to make me a solid one now to replace the volvo unit im using (which is more than adequate)

[mcbonio]

Mine wasn't that bad, but it was full of cracks with all the threads starting to come out.! Totally worth doing in my opinion.