Lower steering shaft question

[Potshot]

I was moving my new to me Bronco into the shop to take a look at the motor mounts. There was a lot of bucking from the vehicle while it was in gear, and it turned out I was right. Motor mounts are are are blown.

Unfortunately, the twisting in the engine compartment pulled the lower steering shaft away and off the steering box. At this point it's pretty awkward trying to get the shaft mounted back on the steering box, and I'm wondering what I can do to get some temporary slack to make that happen. The lower shaft does not have the rag joint, it has a couple of u-joints but no adjustment like I see in some of the aftermarket lower shafts.

I have not pulled a steering column out before but I was wondering how easy it might be to pull it out the inch or so that I need to complete my task. Does that seem to be a reasonable option? Or am I thinking about this too hard?

 

[SLOWnEASY]

Probably speaking out om the wrong end of the body here. But isn't the steering box only held on with three bolts? I would probably just loosen those bolts while leaving all the linkages connected to make room.

 

[jeffncs]

The box is held by 3 bolt through the frame. However, the box goes right up to the radiator support and you will likely only gain 1/4” of space.

Moving the column back an inch or so will require removing the underdash nuts, loosening the firewall bracket. If you have linkage (manual column shift or an auto shift rod), that will also likely have to be removed. That’ll get you some room but not a ton as there’s a bracket behind the dash on the column that’ll hit the back side of the dash u less you twist it to clear the dash opening.

I’d look more closely at the steering shaft. If it’s solid / not collapsible, the vendors sell a great upgraded lower shaft which is collapsible (and safer).

 

[Potshot]

Thanks guys, I was thinking about getting one of those collapsible units but wanted to see if possibly there was an easier cheaper fix.

Wild Horses has one but it looks like I'll have to confirm spline counts and that kind of thing. It's probably the smart thing to do.

 

[.94 OR]

Do you have enough angle in the u-joints that the steering box could be unbolted and rotated to get the u-joint back on?

 

[Potshot]

If it ever cools down this afternoon, I might just try that

 

[DirtDonk]

Check to see if it has a body lift too, since that changes the angle on the shaft to the box, and might have contributed to the current issue.

Paul

 

[Oldtimer]

What year Bronco?
On mine, if I loosen the clamp around steering shaft at bottom of column, the shaft and steering wheel will slde toward the rear.

 

[mdainsd]

I'd spring for a collapsable shaft. It could very well save your life.

 

[Potshot]

Almost there. Loosening the power steering pump to swivel it helped some, but I've had to loosen the clamp and the two bolts in the dash for the steering wheel, that gives me enough flexibility to slide the shaft, but I'm going to need an extra set of hands to get this done later today.

I'll be swapping the tub out later this year, and I'll have a collapsible half shaft go in then. It just makes too much sense.

 

[Potshot]

Yeah, I think I ended up basically with what statistics people call a spurious correlation

Anyhow, I sorted it out. What really helped was unbolting the steering box completely. At that point I was able to twist things around and push and pull to get things where I needed them. I'll have to keep an eye on that going forward. The vehicle does have a body lift, so a nore appropriate lower shaft will be in the works for more than one reason.

Thanks for all the ideas, back to what I was originally after, replacing the motor mounts.