My steering was getting so bad on my teener that I felt like I was driving a old truck. Lots of play in the steering wheel. I pulled the gas tank and sure enough: The original steering coupler was toast. I order a upgrade coupler from Tangerine Racing: http://www.tangerineracing.com/steeringupgrades.htm

This product is less than half of a new OEM rubber coupler too!

See the comparison of the old coupler with the new one.

I have my go-cart steering back!

Nice to see someone makes these in one piece.

In the past I had to improvise by putting two of these in:

http://www.mamotorworkstv.com/vw/product/308032/

Wow! Good looking part!! I knew there was a reason I had not reinstalled my fuel tank yet!!

Stupid question, on your picture what do you look for to see if it is good or bad, the metal sleeve part ? I have my rack out switching the front end out. Its been so long I dont even remember how the steering was on my car.

The holes around the metal sleeves are worn, you can see how large they have gotten in that picture; that will produce some sloppy steering.

It may be possible to get this part cut down in thickness for the guys raising the rack for bump steer , otherwise you are pushing the steering shaft up into the cabin area more and have changed the geometry of the steering shafts . It may not make it harder to steer , but having the shafts in the original plane would help .
Great looking product .

Jack

We sell them in two thicknesses.

^^ ........ cool! I have a 1973 and just added the standard weltmeister bump steer kit ....... so this 'thinner' one will just bolt right on??

This is not really a bolt on part....I mean it bolts on but to get to that point there is a lot of work. My steering and suspension was shot, I also ordered one from Tangerine (Chris F)...while I was installing this part I also added Turbo tie rods with the Lemforder pieces, new ball joints and the Weltmiester bump steer kit. All these parts combined completely transformed the steering of my car to a much more direct feeling and made driving so much more fun. Totally recommened !! I will have to say that though I did not actually install the parts myself, had my shop do it while we were doing the new shocks, front roll bar, tank restoration, bushings and new shocks all around with rear springs...they told me it was a lot of work and hoped to never do that again. If you do a search they are others who have done this upgrade and I think its worth it...my coupler was in bad shape too. Just be prepared for lots of work if you try it yourself or lots of money if you pay to have the work done like I did. Anyway the part is very high quality and helps a lot. I am so glad I had this done to my car.

While there is work in replacing this, it is not that hard. I am a 63 year-old shade tree mechanic.

I had play in the steering wheel as probably going to live with in until I heard horrible crunching sounds! When I got to the coupler I found out one of the bolts that bolts from the bottom of the coupler had gotten loose and came completely out! Thank goodness my hearing had not failed me at my age or I could be driving with only one bolt between me and oncoming traffic!

The only help I had was having my wife to help me lift the gas tank out. Once the tank is out is you have to get to the coupler. It is covered by a plastic cover. The easiest way to remove the cover is get a razor cutter and slit the cover and remove it. (If you choose not to cut the cut the cover then you are in for a lot of work. I just put the cover back when finished and taped it up good. Doesn't look that good but hey who is going to see it!)

Remove the two top bolts on the coupler. I then removed the two hex bolts on the bearing near the firewall and pushed the bearing down to the coupler about four inches. This allows you to rotate the steering shaft enough to get the bottom bolts of the coupler. The bolts have metal tabs bent over the bolts to keep from loosing. I replaced the bottom bolts with longer ones and added lock nuts. This might be overkill but made me feel good! See picture.

Note: I tackled this project after getting help and encouragement from jmill and scotty b in this forum. Hope this helps, Terry.

good thread. did you clean your tank while it was out?

k

No, the car has never set up. It has been driven weekly. I did spray some spots that had surface rust.

Thanks for the additional info Jawja!