Steering shaft boot/bushing and/or adjustment question, ...need some advice/direction Options

[naro914]

For a long time, steering in Huey has been difficult - VERY hard to turn like something was always fighting you. I knew the boot that covers the shaft under the gas tank was never installed so I thought maybe the problem was that the tank was sitting on the shaft or bushings or something.

So today I took out the gas tank and sat looking at it. First....I have no clue how to put the boot on (do I have to drop the rack for that?) but I think the real problem is different. I undid the two allen bolts that hold the U bracket on and slid the rubber bushings out of the was to asses things. Immediately the shaft moved right up against the sides of the hole where it comes through the firewall and relieved the pressure it was under. (see picture) In other words, the shaft was NOT centered at all in that hole, so with the bushings trying to center the shaft, they were putting an immense amount of pressure on the shaft, thus making it hard to turn. (at least this is my theory). In fact, sometimes you can hear a squeaking/creaking type sound when turning the wheel, like metal moving tightly on rubber...

I thought "ok, adjust the U-joints to allow the shaft to be centered". no dice since you can't lengthen/shorten the shaft in the U Joints because of the notch they have where the tightening bolt goes through.

So....questions for the 914world brain trust:

1) how can I adjust things to get that shaft centered through the firewall hole?
2) how do I get the boot on?
3) where can I get new versions of all those bushings? there seems to be two (1 & 2 in my picture) and I guess a bearing (3)?

thoughts?
TIA

[iankarr]

The condition of that bearing may be related to why you couldn't pull the rack out without loosening everything. I wonder if anyone here can offer advice on how to measure the placement of the rack/aux support and determine if the prior front end damage knocked things out of whack.

[naro914]

The condition of that bearing may be related to why you couldn't pull the rack out without loosening everything. I wonder if anyone here can offer advice on how to measure the placement of the rack/aux support and determine if the prior front end damage knocked things out of whack.

The problem with getting it out has nothing to do with the bearing or shaft, there’s just no way to get the actual rack past the aux support and master cylinder without taking it all apart. The shaft was separated from the UJoint fine, and the bearing/rubber bushing just slid down the shaft. Just couldn’t get the rack and tie rods (and bellows) past the master cylinder (mine is a big 21mm the pushes up against the cross member) and the brackets on the aux support. No other way of getting things past than dropping everything down. Even then, it was a really tight squeeze getting by the master cylinder.

But...its out. and with another person helping, I think we can pull everything away enough to squeeze it back in. Was hard to hold the support out of the way while trying to maneuver the rack past everything by myself.