collapsed steering coloumn

[abvsean 10]

Hi folks

 

I recently swapped my igniton barrel and to remove the collar i hammered the column down to pop it off,i pulled it back but now the steering wheel wont fit

 

is there anything i should watch for or loosen to make it easier to return as the threads on the shaft dont come far enough through the steering wheel to get the nut on

 

any help woul be greatly appriciated as i need to get sorted so i can drive the dam thing!

[Supercharged 2]

Hmmm - I think you'll need a new column...

 

They are meant to collapse in the event of an accident, hammering it has had the same effect - you're meant to use a 3-legged puller to remove the adapter!

[VAG-hag 0]

What model is it? I have a column off a vr for sale

[abvsean 10]

ah ball sack they didnt say that in the D.I.Y HOW TO.

Its from a n reg vr6,no height adjustment on it just a coloumn

 

will it not return then....ever??i cant be faced taking all that apart again

[davidwort 0]

on a fixed steering column I did this and just whacked it back into place, the sections of the column inside the main tube are designed to slide and collapse in an accident, but you can tap them back the other way if you have compressed them a bit, I'm assuming you can take the inner column out of the outer tube as on the fixed column though, can't remember if the adjustable one comes fully apart

[davidwort 0]

ah, just re-read, if it's fixed column then yes it's easy to fix

[Dox 22]

I once changed a column on a Volvo 740 due to the horn constantly going off due to the previous owner abusing the column and then disconnecting the horn due to its poor behaviour. I reconnected the wire for the MOT and rather chuffed with myself set off for a retest only for the horn to sound on every bend in the road......

 

After I swapped the column I read the Haynes manual and found a measurement to set the length of the column, I suspect a similar measurement is available for the Corrado?

[davidwort 0]

Don't need measurement, you can see aged marks where the sections were located, just tap it until the marks line up again

[abvsean 10]

so do i need to take it out of the car to do this?

pull the inner out then hit it back into position??

 

cheers for the help,its been a hellish job doing the igniton barrel and it wasnt the cause of my fault haha at least its done though!

[davidwort 0]

unfortunately yes, take it all out, remove the steering lock, take the outer tube off, clamp the inner column in a vice and hammer/tap the two halves apart a bit again, doesn't need hitting hard. actually, no I don't think you do need to remove the lock!

[abvsean 10]

got it all out and trying to hit it back to original position but its not giving me enough length on the spline/steering wheel end to fit wheel back on.

 

are corrado ones the same as mk2 golf ones?

[Dox 22]

Whereabouts are you, someone may have one

[abvsean 10]

Vag-Hag says he has one i can have,hes sending me some piccs,hes a good lad.

 

Thing is im an impersonator,my vr6 is in a mk2 golf and trying to find out if they are the same??

 

I did have a corrado g60 though few years ago now like.

 

Well the moral of this story is dont brae the column down to pop off the spline as its a ball ache

[Dox 22]

MK2 column is non adjustable?

 

VR will be adjustable

 

I have a G60 column also adjustable and U/J.

 

Whats currently fitted to your car?

[davidwort 0]

got it all out and trying to hit it back to original position but its not giving me enough length on the spline/steering wheel end to fit wheel back on.

 

are corrado ones the same as mk2 golf ones?

yes, I'm sure they are, I used a polo one

I'm not sure why you are having trouble though, you just need to slide it back to the original length

a few pics of yours would help seeing what you have done

[abvsean 10]

I dont know what im doing either,i got another from scrap yard today and bought a 3legged puller from machine mart,what a crock of ****e they are for removing the spline.the lips is far too small to get a decent grip on.

 

when im refitting the spline i cant get it far enough onto the shaft for the thread to stick far enough through the steering wheel so i can get a nut on.

[davidwort 0]

I've done this several times on different cars, removing and refitting the spline too, to remove it I found a good approach was sitting it just nipped up in a vice with the thin shoulders above the vice jaws and hammering the shaft from the top with a nut in place to prevent damaging the top of the column, without the proper vw puller it's nigh on impossible with pullers

[Stonejag 10]

My fixed column came out of a car in a scrapyard that had been rolled. I couldn't work out why the bottom spring was so loose, ordered a new one from VW and it was identical to the one I had! Eventually I figured out that the outer column had telescoped in the original accident, I just grabbed one end in each hand and pulled until it was about the right length and then test-fitted a couple of times before leaving it ;)

 

You probably want to remove the inner column from the outer housing so you can stretch the outer housing separately - that's just two tubes joined by a couple of V-shaped arms which compress down flat in a crash. Just pull them out until the arms are around 30-45º from the tube. I believe the inner column telescoping joint is welded, so if you've hammered that shorter you'll need a new one. It took me a lot of force and tweaking to get the steering lock/ignition barrel housing in the right axial position relative with the outer column, are you sure you have the two pieces mounted together properly?

 

Very surprised you needed to hammer it at all, to be honest, with all four of the bolts out they just drop free and unclip from the UJ at the bottom. You didn't try and remove the inner column from the outer while the outer was still held in with the two shear bolts, did you..?

 

Stone