[GATOR427SC]

Guys...Does the steering shaft collar that has the set screw go closest to steering wheel or on the other side of the pillow block bearing towards the front of the car?

thanks
Chris

 

[John F]

Closest to the wheel. It goes over the lip on the bearing and turns about an 1/8th to lock in place. The manual doesn't say this but the Breeze info does.

 

[Mike 1404]

Shouldn't it be on the other side of the bearing? That way if there is an accident, the bearing will keep the steering wheel from pushing out into your face while the column collapses? Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Cemi]

On the other side of the pillow block, toward the front of the car.

 

[John F]

Yeah, it should. If you get the Breeze upper shaft you get a second collar to trap it. The FFR unit is on the wheel side to stop you from pushing the wheel into the dash. You're supposed to miss the things in your way.

 

[GATOR427SC]

Ok even more confused than before....

Do the 2 "C"-clips on the steering shaft keep the steering shaft from moving forwards and backwards under normal loads? In the event of an accident if this collar is on the steering wheel side then the steering shaft can't collapse towards the motor. Correct? But if the collar is on the engine side then what keeps the steering shaft from moving forwards if pushed on hard enough?

Chris

 

[John F]

The spring clips only keep it from rattling! Tightening the collar onto the lip of the bearing will keep it from moving in either direction. The manual says towards the steering wheel.

 

[oldguy668]

I added a collar on the opposite side, so the steering wheel should stay with the frame member it's bolted to. Hopefully I won't ever find out if my theory is correct.
Happy motoring

 

[DeRalph]

I'm installing mine on the front side of the bearing- that way if the steering shaft tries to push the wheel into me- it will just slide up the shaft with the wheel attached until it hits the collar, then the bearing has to shear off. Also if I hit the wheel with my body it allows the shaft to collapse into the shaft.
Thats my theory anyway.

 

[David G]

Right, if I've got the stock upper shaft, why would I want to disable the collapsable column feature? I suppose if I got really mad and started pounding on the wheel with both fists I could eventually drive it into the dash, but you shouldn't treat your car that way.

Anymore more simply, why stop the collapsing feature? I'm just looking for opinions.

 

[John F]

You're not. The steering wheel stays where it is and the other end is allowed to collapse about 9"

 

[TAZ]

I would think you'd want BOTH collars to be mounted on the insides (i.e. Front Side of car at the Steering Wheel Pillow Block, and Back Side by the U-joint/Rag-Joint Pillow Block.)

This way those that portion of the steering shaft will remain in that place no matter if you have impact or no impact.

If you do have impact, the smaller diamater shaft will slid up into the larger diamater shaft which is currently held statically in place with the C clips.

TAZ

 

[Ed Hubbard]

Re-opening this old thread.

I've got the breeze lower & the tri-states upper (when I was ordering that's the best I could do) & I'm using a Flaming River rack & universal. BTW, the Flaming River universal is required for the my 4.6 DOHC setup as it has a better over-all range of motion angle-wise than the nicer (but more restrictive) Breeze Universal.

Anyway, I have no clips for these shafts, is that a problem? Seems fine to me, but maybe it will rattle?

Next, the intermidiate tubular shaft (flat on two sides & the upper column slides into it) has no 'indentation dots' on it like my427sc's has. Basically all I have is the upper shaft, the lower shaft, the pillow blocks and two locking collars - a big one & a little one.

On the collars, where do these go and the related question is which way do the bearings in the pillow blocks install? There's a lip on them that, when the collars are sort of turned onto them, lock up on the shaft tight without even setting the allen set screw.

Anyway, this is probably all very confusing to you (it is to me). Any suggestions? Thx.

-Ed

 

[cobraman]

the upper shaft you got from me does not use the clips. it uses the collar. The clips are there to hold the 2 shafts together tight, on a mustang these are the only thing that holds the shafts together. there are no pillow block bearings. the clips do keep it from rattling but they also tightly hold the shafts together.The collar that you got from me does the same thing as the clips.
I just replied to a similiar question on the ask Tri State forum.

 

[Tim Cronin]

Bottom line after careful reflection....Since the collars lock the shaft to the bearing it probably doesn't matter which side they are located. The 2 shafts slide over each other in time of impact to collapse. Issues of clearance from firewall and accessability should dictate where the collars go. The manual states the lower block collar goes to the front of the car and makes no reference to the upper.
My .02
TEC

 

[David Douglas]

There have been numerous posts on this topic and I had the same question a couple months ago. I actually found in the manual where it talks about the upper bearing collar. It's on page 74, step 31 of the dash installation. It says to put the collar on the "dash side of the bearing" (toward steering wheel). Even after reading this, I put the collar on the front side of the bearing, figuring that if any of the "collapsable" function was retained, it would be better with the collar on the front side.