my steering column seems to wiggle a bit,The big nut holding the wheel is tight and the 4 allen bolts holding the saddle are good,what other things should i look for or is a little wiggle ok?

If it gets to bothering you Tom, you will need to pull the column apart and replace the bearings. There is an upper and a lower. The lower one is usually fine, but the upper needs replaced occasionally. Look on Pelican Parts website, the upgrade for the upper bearing has a 928 part number.

Not too hard to do, probably a 4 on the 1-10 scale.

Good luck and keep us updated!

I checked PP's site and they also offer a replacement bushing,could it be that also?

bearing and bushing get replaced
1-2 hour job.
Rich

Search on here for my post on disassembly, repair and reassembly. I dont have the link handy, but it has pics

The 'Big Nut' holding the wheel in my car is beyond help

You can also get a metal "sleeve" that slides between the shaft and the inner race of the top bearing. You tap it in and it will get rid of the slop.

Had one on mine for years, no slop, no problems ...

Thanks for all the info.is that "sleeve"your talking about the one on PP that is split?

I tried the "sleeve"... should have saved the money since the upper bearing replacement was a pretty easy repair (and for some reason I couldn't get the sleeve to work).

There is an oem bearing that uses the sleeve. There is also an oem replacement that has a plastic ring "built in sleeve". Trying to put the metal oem sleeve into the plastic ringed oem replacement just fuggers up the bearing.. It is either one or the other, unless your oem plastic ringed replacement is so far gone that the oem metal sleeve actually does assist a little..

Found this out the hard way re-ordering things from AA and getting both styles..

Second note: if you put to much torque on the big nut that holds the wheel on trying to solve the wiggle you will lose your turn signal cancel ability and may harm it permenently. Though in most cases easing off on the torque down will reclaim the turn signal cancel ability.. My experience anyways.. 2 cents for what its worth..

does the knee pad have to be removed or can you just get at it by removing all the guts in the column?

Sleeve = remove steering wheel and turn signal assembly
Bearing = remove the entire steering column (my knee pad was already off so I don't exactly know if it would be in the way)

Hey Tomh,

Due to your complaint, I took BOTH steering columns apart from my (2) '73s.
Here's what I found:

-Upper bearing is a crappy design with a plastic inner liner that fails, causing the slop. I spent a couple hours on-line, including calling a "we can find any bearing" house to find that there is NO substitute for the German made 58080 bearing.

-There is NO sleeve used in the 914, so the 928 P/N piece must be for 928s only.
Replacing the failing plastic liner of the bear with a sleeve of your own could work,
but would require some method of keeping it in place....maybe expoxy glue or welding.

-In one column, the bottom bearing WAS BAD! Since it is a STANDARD 6003 bearing it can be bought anywhere. I bought on-line from www.bearingsdirect.com
and paid $4.75 ea (bought 2) + $5.80 shipping for both. Much cheaper than PP!

-To remove the column:
*1st- unbolt the steering wheel and then the steering shaft (I unbolted at the
rack&pinion end as it was easier to get to.
*2nd- Unbolt the 4 Allen-head bolts holding the column to the dash
*3rd- pull the colum out of the car
*4th- unscrew the 4 small machine screws holding the signal & wiper switch assy.
Then slide the whole dual-arm assy out and put aside.
*5th- Turn the column bottom side up and unbold the single allen-head bolt
opposite the ignition switch side.
*6th- Slide the entire steel column out of the black housing
*7th- Lastly, using circlip pliers you can get access to & remove both bearings.

Enjoy,
Terry

I never used any glue on the sleeve and never had one come lose. Just tapped it between the shaft and the bearing and it seems to stay there just fine.

However, i don't think i've ever dealt with the plastic lined bearings. All the one i have seen are metal.

...I'm experienced too! ( went down that way for me)

This is all killer info,just to be sure,the sleeve we are all talking about is the one on PP that is split.Is this correct?

No.

The one i have seen and used (more than once) looks like stainless and has stamped "ribs" on it that are tapered ...

I have never used (or seen) the one pictured on pelican.

I used the corrugated bushing on my car, and even after tapping it in I had it slip out more then once. I ended up making a retainer from a bit of copper pipe connector that has held for the past 2 years.

I had a thread on my issues somewhere, but you would have to search for it.

Zach

My 75 914 had the plastic sleeve fall apart and it would honk the horn when you hit a bump it was so loose. I took it apart and saw what was wrong and ordered a sleeve and it came in and it was just like the one in my son's super beetle. The little wavy metal split one. It's harder but I think I remember putting it in with the lip under the bearing so it would stay in place but zach's suggestion of using a spacer on top of it seems like a good solution to me, I rember reading his thread. I had mine apart more than once before I got it as tight as I wanted it. I think I had to shim the top bearing in the housing some.

I had the same problem so I bought a new bearing. Turns out there are mounting tabs welded to the column in there that those bolts you tried to tighten go through that were broken. Pull it apart and inspect it before you spend money on any bushings, sleeves or bearings.

It's been like 20 years since I fixed mine, but if I remember correctly there is diferences between early and late. My wheel was also sloppy on my 75 and I also bought the steel steering column sleeve from Automotion. They still sell it for $14.99. I was able to just slide it in after removing the wheel and blinker assemblys. I haven't had a problem since. I also noticed the steering column bearing in the latest automotion catalog says 73-76. Is there a diference in the 72 and older columns?