mechanical nightmares!

[stevo151617]

two problems, well one problem and a big "what the heck" issue. neither of them really problems. Today, i put my 1991 loyale up to rotate the tires, and check the tie rods..etc...everything was ok, but the right rear wheel bearing was kind of sloppy, i was basically wondering if it is a pressed in bearing, or is it something i can do with a slide hammer and a punch bearing installer tool? my other issue is with the power steering, what a mess! i have no leaks, the pump seems fine. i have limited power steering assist, by this i mean, it is hard to turn while sitting still and when im moving, the wheel turns in what i like to call "bursts". meaning that within one turn of the wheel i have assist then none, then assist, than none. EVERY TIME! i replaced the belt, it really didnt make too much of a difference other than it stopped squealing. any ideas? i would like to know about the bearing too! thanks! steve-o

[GeneralDisorder]

Bearing isn't terribly hard. There is a ring nut on the back of the trailing arm that has to come out. There's a special tool for this, but for a one-off you can use a chisel or a large punch. The bearing has to be drifted out of the control arm with a punch (I use a brass punch), and then new one drifted in. They don't really go bad too often, and you may find that the axle nut is just a little loose - should be 150 lbs at least, and if it's loose, it will feel like the bearing is bad as the hub under the nut presses the parts of the bearing together. That make sense? Could also just get a whole trailing arm from the junk yard. That's just a few bolts. The bearings are about $50 each new.

 

I had a steering issue just like your's once. It was pretty frustrating - I actually removed the PS rack and tore it down (ungodly hairy mess in there let me tell you!) all to no effect. Check the u-joint(s) in the steering shaft where it comes out of the firewall - one of mine had rusted partially and lost one of it's degrees of freedom. Each time the steering wheel was turned there were hard spots when the steering linkage would bind. Didn't have anything to do with the rack or the PS system at all actually.

 

GD

[stevo151617]

Bearing isn't terribly hard. There is a ring nut on the back of the trailing arm that has to come out. There's a special tool for this, but for a one-off you can use a chisel or a large punch. The bearing has to be drifted out of the control arm with a punch (I use a brass punch), and then new one drifted in. They don't really go bad too often, and you may find that the axle nut is just a little loose - should be 150 lbs at least, and if it's loose, it will feel like the bearing is bad as the hub under the nut presses the parts of the bearing together. That make sense? Could also just get a whole trailing arm from the junk yard. That's just a few bolts. The bearings are about $50 each new.

 

I had a steering issue just like your's once. It was pretty frustrating - I actually removed the PS rack and tore it down (ungodly hairy mess in there let me tell you!) all to no effect. Check the u-joint(s) in the steering shaft where it comes out of the firewall - one of mine had rusted partially and lost one of it's degrees of freedom. Each time the steering wheel was turned there were hard spots when the steering linkage would bind. Didn't have anything to do with the rack or the PS system at all actually.

 

GD

i prolly should have read this before cranking my belt to its max thinking it was the pump...im gonna go "undo" that. thanks for the help!

[idosubaru]

if you determine for sure it's the bearing, i'd do the junk yard rear hub swap probably. the rear hubs aren't that hard to swap (unless there's tons of rust, that won't help). i have the tool for removing that special nut but have yet to use it. if you're swapping one rear hub and you have drum brakes, might be a good time to consider doing a rear disc brake swap since you're swapping hubs anyway. you'd have to swap both sides and you're done.

[stevo151617]

yeah, im not too worried about the bearing, but i am worried about the steering, winters get rough around here and i just want to make sure i can turn. i had an assistant turn the wheel while i looked at the u-joints in the steering shaft, i didnt notice any binding or loosness. for the longest time i had a bad belt and you couldnt turn the wheel unless you were moving or else it would squeal loud, but ive been on vacation for the last week and some people were using my car and im pretty sure theyre too dumb to know that loud noise+resistance=stop doin whatever your doing... i put a new belt on, and like i said, i didnt see any looseness in the u-joints in the steering shaft. i havent looked but im pretty sure that there should be some type of rack bearing on or below the input shaft to the rack, if there is could someone let me know, or if they have a torque spec. that would be great! thanks-steve-o

:headbang: :headbang: rock over london, rock on chicago!

[stevo151617]

p.s. im in upstate new york, there is no way im getting any thing from a junk yard that is going to be good, we use alot of salt here and i think i have the only loyale wagon in the tri-county area! ill just have to bite the bullet and pay the fools at advance auto parts!

[GeneralDisorder]

Jack the front wheels up and check the steering column again. It won't look loose, in fact it may not look like much at all. 1/2 the u-joint on mine was frozen with rust.

 

GD

[stevo151617]

Jack the front wheels up and check the steering column again. It won't look loose, in fact it may not look like much at all. 1/2 the u-joint on mine was frozen with rust.

 

GD

ill check that but im pretty sure you are on the right track, if these u-joints are bad, i should feel some binding with the wheels up too right? and another question, when you replaced your "knuckles" as i like to call them, did they come in a 3 peice set? or did you individually replace the u-joint that was bad? thanks alot! steve-o :headbang: rock on!

[GeneralDisorder]

Yes - the binding should still be there with the wheels up - it may not be as noticeable however.

 

I didn't replace the u-joint. It's still in the car. I took it out, and worked it with PB Blaster for like an hour till it was free again. Then I injected some grease under the booties to keep it from happening again. It's an off-road rig. If I replaced each little thing that broke..... I would be broke.

 

GD

[stevo151617]

Yes - the binding should still be there with the wheels up - it may not be as noticeable however.

 

I didn't replace the u-joint. It's still in the car. I took it out, and worked it with PB Blaster for like an hour till it was free again. Then I injected some grease under the booties to keep it from happening again. It's an off-road rig. If I replaced each little thing that broke..... I would be broke.

 

GD

good call! thanks! looks like 2 pinch bolts and thats it right?

[GeneralDisorder]

Two pinch bolts, yeah. The trick is sometimes you have to undo the rubber donut in the linkage to get enough room to pull them free.

 

GD

[stevo151617]

Two pinch bolts, yeah. The trick is sometimes you have to undo the rubber donut in the linkage to get enough room to pull them free.

 

GD

yeah, it worked,wasnt able to inject any grease but i did leave the set in a bucket of motor oil for about an hour, then the joints moved better" not as good as the rest though, i have a feeling one of the roller bearings may have jumped out. if i was to replace this set (god knows i dont want to be down in there again) what would i call the set and/or is there a part number available?

thanks- steve-o :headbang: :headbang: :banana: :headbang: rock out bananas!

[GeneralDisorder]

You have two of them right? I could snag some from the yards here. No rust so should be pretty much like new (but greasy, heh). Mine only rusted from off-roading and getting them full of mud and dunked in filthy water.

 

Or you could check a local VW performance shop..... something like one of these should work (check sizes first - I've not personally tried one yet):

 

http://www.mooreparts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=MP&Category_Code=SUSUJNT

 

And while you are in there, snag a "urethane steering coupler" direct bolt in for us subaru types. Round donut to replace the sloppy rubber junk you have now... EMPI part number 16-5150 (about $8):

 

http://www.empius.com/2006_catalog/empi2006_pg135.html

 

GD

[stevo151617]

You have two of them right? I could snag some from the yards here. No rust so should be pretty much like new (but greasy, heh). Mine only rusted from off-roading and getting them full of mud and dunked in filthy water.

 

Or you could check a local VW performance shop..... something like one of these should work (check sizes first - I've not personally tried one yet):

 

http://www.mooreparts.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=MP&Category_Code=SUSUJNT

 

And while you are in there, snag a "urethane steering coupler" direct bolt in for us subaru types. Round donut to replace the sloppy rubber junk you have now... EMPI part number 16-5150 (about $8):

 

http://www.empius.com/2006_catalog/empi2006_pg135.html

 

GD

nah, i only got one soob, and the only other dude in the area with one is a jerk and he wont sell parts for cheap, ill never find one of these in a junkyard near me at all, and even then im sure it has been plucked clean of any useful parts. i would have no problem with occasionally removing the set and lubing them, but i wish they made a rag-joint alternative! when i had it apart, i did think about putting it back in backwards, because the way it comes out of the firewall and the way the rack is positioned, it puts alot of an angle on the joints that are actually damaged, so i figured if i reversed it, i could keep the damaged joint up near the less "important" part and possibly save myself the hassle of removing and lubing again...but that seems risky because of the way it is splined. plus the bolt channels on the splines are slightly different, nothing that cant be altered, but who knows...maybe ill try that next!?thanks for the help! steve-o

[GeneralDisorder]

I meant you have two "u-joints" in the column. My EA81's only have a single joint, but IIRC, the EA82's have two.

 

Rag joints suck - in fact in my off-road wagon, I've even eliminated the rubber donut as well. Mine is solid all the way down except for two u-joints like an EA82.

 

If the joint bearings in yours are totally shot, then I would get new or used parts. It's only going to get worse if that's the case, and if the joint fails completely it could be pretty dangerous.

 

GD

[stevo151617]

I meant you have two "u-joints" in the column. My EA81's only have a single joint, but IIRC, the EA82's have two.

 

Rag joints suck - in fact in my off-road wagon, I've even eliminated the rubber donut as well. Mine is solid all the way down except for two u-joints like an EA82.

 

If the joint bearings in yours are totally shot, then I would get new or used parts. It's only going to get worse if that's the case, and if the joint fails completely it could be pretty dangerous.

 

GD

dangerous? you mean like losing total control of the wheels at any given point with no way to save my own life? yeah i thought about that. it is a 2 joint set,it should lock up and be hard to turn before its bad enough to kill me..plus, ill just muscle it until i can turn. thats the difference, where some people care, i tend to roll the dice and see what happens..ill tell you what though, i made damn sure that those pinch bolts were tighter than a...u know what...! my most extreme driving conditions will be in the winter, thats all im concerned about, plus ill go on the trail once in a while..but nothing deep, i dont really have any upgrades other than some wintermaster tires and some coil spring helpers in the back(i haul pallets for bonfires, sometimes i sag!) i wouldnt mind having an extreme off road machine, but it would have to be a jeep, i couldnt imagine using something with a wheelbase as long as the loyale for anything other than light trails(with the exception of the crazy guys lifting these things and putting on the swampers) thats all for me, once again i am in debt to you guys for all of your help! thanks! steve-o