tires and wheels Catastrophic Steering Failure

[jimk]

Fabricate a temp rubber flex joint from an old tire or a piece of heavy belting material like a conveyor belt.  Flat drive belts are not around much.  Talk to your local electric power station personnel at a station that burns coal, they have old belting laying around.  It's about a thick or thicher than the stuff that broke.  You need to also do a temporary grounding strap from the steeriing shaft to the sector so the horn works (I believe tha't what the ground is for).

Edited April 13, 2014 by jimk

[KFunk]

It may not be that difficult to get the part.  I found one on the shelf at Autozone (I think, or another major chain) that looks like it'll fit, or close enough.  It's in the 'Help!' section of random oddball parts.  I just threw it in my 02's toolbag in case of emergency, but haven't had to use it yet.  

[roadhog0]

They look very similiar to the one that old GM vehicles use (stuff with a Saginaw column) My truck has a rag joint like that. Dont know if they fit though and they would be hard to find down under I suppose.

[colorobo2002]

Jack up and just turn the wheels.

Jack it up and put it on some car dollies.

Or I like the plastic bag idea, you may be able to roll it over a couple of plastic cafeteria trays, or something like that to get the wheels to spin. Or maybe look at how the steering assembly works, and you can leverage a pry bar or 2x4 to turn the wheels while the car is rolling back and forth.

Don't quite understand how it's wedged between the car and pole, but if you really have to, a good tow truck driver can likely get it out of there, Undamaged.

Oh yeah, If you can change brake pads, you can change out this coupler too!

Good luck!

Edited April 13, 2014 by colorobo2002

[PaulTWinterton]

Wow! My guess it was on it's way out for a while.  COULD HAVE BEEN catastrophic.  Imagine driving at highway speed with your steering wheel free spinning.  (Shudder).

 

Easy fix.

[rms_sandiego]

Same thing happened to my son a few years back... I had already noticed that the steering guibo had developed some cracking and had ordered a new one, but hadn't installed it yet. He had the car and was trying to leave a spot where he had parallel parked and the guibo "popped" and failed in the way you describe (and looked a bit like your pictures). Normally the bolts between the two flanges will catch against one another and allow you to turn the steering box, but if you accidentally pull the steering wheel out a bit, you can completely uncouple the top shaft from the bottom and get free turning. It sounds like that is what happened to you. Unfortunately there is a chance that you may have bent or broken the cancel tab on the turn signal switch in pulling the steering wheel partly out.

 

SInce I had the guibo in hand, I drove down to where he was parked and did the change out at the curb with a flashlight and a socket wrench set that I keep in the car. It is only a 20 min job if the parts cooperate.

 

It looks like you have some chunks of the old guibo turned sideways and preventing the top and bottom flanges from being pushed back together. If your only goal is to turn the wheels to get it out of the parking space, you may be able to just pull out the chunks with a pliers or vice grip and push the steering wheel in/down so that the flanges stay in contact and allow turning of the input shaft to the steering box. A 3-4 inch length of 1x2 wood or some wedges stuck cross-wise between the flange bolts will help the flanges stay in contact but make sure to push in on the steering wheel with any attempt to turn it.

 

Replacing the guibo is pretty trivial on a LHD car, and you could go pick up the guibo from a dealer (they are less than $20) and put it in. Just from your pictures, I think access is going to be the issue on a RHD car, and I can't tell how hard it would be to access the steering shaft and guibo from the top of the engine bay. The exhaust manifold looks like it is in the way a bit, but I still think you could get to the flange bolts from above.

 

I wrote up a how to a few years back.  It is the 4th or 5th post on this string. 

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/103138-steering-column-guibo-installation-help/

 

Good luck.

[M3M3]

You can usually shove the wheels enough to cock them in the right direction, at least enough to push the car to a safe position.

 

yes, just turn the front wheels by hand in the direction they need to go.  02's are light.  not hard to do.   

[Marcus Ashley]

 I'm trying to figure out a quick-fix using some wood pieces and duct tape to restore just enough steering to push the car to a more reasonable location/positioning for towing .....

 

Anybody got a quick-fix idea ??

 

Cheers,

 

Carl

Thanks for the trouble shooting. Luckily these things are small and light. I was able to shove the wheels and position the car so that there was less disruption to traffic. I've covered and will be having towed soon.

[Marcus Ashley]

Hi Marcus,

I would recommend BimerTech 9948 1310, guy who owns it is Matt, they are in Balgowlah, http://www.bimmertech.com.au/

Matt has always been very honest and fair with me and knows 02's well, his brother races one, he always has a good spread of cars in the workshop.

I would get him to fit a heat shield as well, I think you can still get them, try Jaymic in the UK, Rogers Tii in the US or Walloth in Germany for the shield and rubber joint. You can try bmw dealers in Sydney but they are very expensive, ridiculous mark ups, just like most other Aussie vendors, captive audience and all that. Long live the Internet :-)

Good luck.

Thanks for the recommendation. Had a good chat with Matt and will be sending his way once I source the parts. 

Considered having a crack myself as the task looks achievable but after a second look, access is an issue and I figure a complication better tackled by someone with experience. 

[73touring]

Dont be tempted to put a urathane one in. They melt on rhd cars and very quickly