Commodore steering column

[crowbar]

About four years ago I had a steering column made up by rods racks
By memory it was a VB commodore bottom grafted to the FE top because I wanted to maintain the original steering wheel
I have heard that Rod is no longer in business so hopefully some one on the forum can help me
Just fitted this last week engineer about to sign off
The problem is that the steering wheel is sitting about a quarter of an inch (sorry old school dont know what that is in mils) from the blinker housing thus not turning off the blinkers on the steering wheel return
I have spent all day on this and all joints are OK
I can push the steering home that quarter inch without any problem but it gradually comes back
It appears to me that this play is internal and in the inner and outer collapsible steering rod inside the steering housing
Any theories welcome

Cheers
Haydn

[hsv-001]

Haydn, I'm Haydn also and I did work at Rods until he gave it up . Ok so it appears that the inner steering shaft and the outer column are miss- matched . First check that the circlip at the bottom of the column[holds the plastic commodore bearing in place] if it is in correctly then you will have to remove the steering shaft .So measure how much too long it is . This is how much you need to shorten it , but it's fairly easy . First remove the bolt that holds the intermediate shaft to the bottom of the column ,then the steering wheel ,the indicator assembly ,and the top bearing by removing the three 7/16 bolts . Now you can remove the collapsible shaft . You will see that there is two aluminium rivets that are used as shear pins, so mark the upper shaft and measure where you need to push it in to [should be the same measurement as the gap that was between the steering wheel and the indicator boss]. Now remove the rivets with a 1/8" drill and push the inner to your new mark and re-drill the original holes . They should be your 1/4" [your measurement ] further up the inner[original early holden] shaft . Its important to drill the rivet holes just deep enough so the rivets drop all the way in then wobble the drill around so the holes are bigger inside ,this will ensure that the rivets wont work their way out . Put two more rivets back in and replace the shaft into the column . You will probably have to remove and replace the bearing and circlip at the bottom of the column as you slide the shaft in ,then replace the intermediate shaft and your done . Any questions you can call me on 55477094 and I will talk you through it .Cheers Haydn

[crowbar]

Thanks Haydn
Will give you a ring tonight and discuss

Cheers
Haydn

[hsv-001]

After some thought about this ,the Rods steering column inner shaft should not be pushed down as the collapsible section could do exactly that . You mentioned that the when you push down on the column ,that you can push the wheel down to where it should be , but it bounces back up. This shouldn't be the case ,I can only think that the intermediate shaft is too tight [long] between the steering shaft and the pinion shaft . So before doing anything else it would be a good idea to remove the intermediate shaft and see if this fixes the problem .If the wheel goes into place then either the intermediate shaft isn't going on the pinion shaft spline far enough or the rack may be mounted too high on the crossmember and you lower it by undoing the mounting bolts and removing the washer from under the rack and replacing them on the top at the rack mounting points . When you do this just check the steering rods [tie rods] are still close to parallel to the lower control arms or you can create bump steer . Cheers Haydn

[crowbar]

Haydn
Cant reach you on that number

[JOX515]

Crowbar,  Haydn is in Qld - try 07 before the phone number...  Cheers, Graeme

[fc2360]

This what I made up vn column stripped down with fc outer over the top half. The column only had mounts removed standed steering wheel fits on vn column.

[hsv-001]

I thought that the spline on FC-FE was only matched through to HG and Torana LC ,even though the splines match on these models the height from top bearing to retaining nut varied to allow different indicator and horn mechanisms . The upper shaft on the commodore is around 2mm thicker than early Holdens therefore we had to put some weld on either side of the early shaft before machining them to fit inside the commodore lower  section . Cheers Haydn 

[fc2360]

This is my vn column with fc outer over it


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[mcl1959]

does your engineer not require that the collapsing feature still works, or is it built in somehow?

Ken

[fc2360]

The collapsible part is not touched standed vn column slips back inside
Cheers Geoff

[JOX515]

That's odd cos I always thought the original bracket was part of the collapsible setup..... At least that's what my engineer said.

[59wagon]

Hi Geoff, I'm still trying to figure out what to do column wise for my wagon. Are you able to give a detailed description of how you did this, please? Cheers, John

[fe350chev]

I've seen rods at shows that have the bottom bit collapsible but they have a basic brackets either aftermarket or clamping style to the dash, but I can't work out with some of them how the top works to stop chest crush etc. So I'm still trying to work out how they pass like that?

[fc2360]

In the first phot shows a ring welded to the top of column away from were column collapses to than the out tube (from fc column ) has plate welded on to take fc blinker  unit.The bottom of this outer tube has tabs welded to it these bolt to dash behind original dash clamp .Bottom of outer tube centred to vn column by spacer which is not welded to column (filled with urethane )
Cheers Geoff



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[fe350chev]

Looks neat and tidy Geoff.

If I'm asking questions, I'm not being an ass, it's just that I have a vl column and fc column ready to do this in my garage right now. So the more discussion the better for me. If I pull my finger out, I might have some pics of one done with the vl but I have been looking at aftermarket but I will convert the other one anyway as well.

[hsv-001]

I'm doing [re-doing ] one for a neighbourhood FJ with rear mounted rack in my shed now [he is changing steering wheels and want an EH sports boss ,so the length of the top inner will have to change ] I can probably help with any questions you may have.PM me please so I don't get into too many long conversations on different options and variations . Cheers Haydn

[fe350chev]

Will do if I wanna double check anything thanks.

[hsv-001]

The FC-FE dash bracket should be rubber mounted and in the event of a collision the bottom should collapse and the top of the tube will slide through the rubber . I think I would prefer this to a collapsible section above a fixed  dash clamp that could bend and jam and not travel away from a driver braced against it . Haydn