Jim Shea

I just received an eMail from a 1968 owner with a telescoping steering column. He was installing a Borgeson integral power gear and had collapsed his steering shaft up into the steering column to make additional clearance for the new steering gear. Now he reports that he can no longer lock the telescoping steering shaft.

I am posting the following because I am pretty sure that I have discovered the exact cause of his problem. And there is not a good answer to the problem.
Here is my initial response.

You aren't going to like this. How far did you collapse the lower shaft? Two inches? Or more than two inches?

The 1968 telescoping column had 3 inches of telescope available. If you collapsed the lower shaft about two inches, pull the steering wheel and upper shaft rearward as far as it will go. You should now be able to lock the steering wheel and upper shaft in that position. When you push the steering wheel forward (toward the instrument panel) by more than one inch you will most likely lose the ability to lock the telescope feature.

Note the location of the locking wedge. The wedge is a part of the upper steering shaft. There is a long rod inside the upper steering shaft that rests against the wedge. When you tighten the star screw it shoves the rod against the wedge and ***** it. When it is cocked it locks the upper and lower steering shafts from moving.

Looking at the drawing you can see that the lower steering shaft goes from a one inch diameter tube (at the steering gear end) and is swedged down to a smaller diameter just before the locking wedge. Now when you moved the lower steering shaft back into the steering column by about two inches that moved the locking wedge in relation to the lower shaft. So the wedge moved down inside the 1 inch diameter part of the lower steering shaft where there is generous clearance. So it did not **** against anything and did not lock the two shafts together. If you pull the upper shaft all the way rearward, you will most likely bring the locking wedge back into the swedged down portion of the lower steering shaft and you probably can lock the two shafts in that location.

Now I would guess that you don't want to drive around like a NASCAR driver with the steering wheel telescoped all the way rearward (all of the time!)

I really hate to suggest this fix because if has certain safety implications. What you need to do is cut a one to two inch section from the lower steering shaft (whatever the exact length that you need to shorten the shaft). Now, I would never butt weld to shafts together and steer a car down the highway with only a butt weld holding the shaft(s) together. We had excellent UAW welders at Saginaw, however we would never just rely upon butt welding to join critical parts like steering shafts together (even on a prototype basis).

Also, it is very important that the shaft itself is very straight. No bending of the shaft is allowed otherwise binding of the steering shaft in the column bearings will occur. You will need to shorten the shaft by cutting out a section. Then make a plug that will span inside both portions of the weld area. Pin the plug in place and then butt weld the two shafts.

I wish that I had better news. Both the 1967 and 1968 Corvette telescoping columns have this same problem. You cannot just shorten the steering column by pressing the lower shaft up into the column. 1969 and later steering columns do not have this problem.

Possibly Borgeson people have run into this problem and may have some thoughts on the subject.
Jim

aussiejohn

Jim,

Thank you very much for that excellent article. I will be watching with interest for the response.

It sounds like there could be a market opportunity for someone to offer (professionally) shortened steering shafts for '67 and '68 Corvette owners who wish to fit a Borgeson box and still have the tilt/tele feature with a full locking facility.

Also, the '63 to '66 Vettes that do not have a tele or even a collapsible feature would benefit from a properly shortened steering shaft.

Any takers?

Regards from Down Under

aussiejohn

noonie

With your proposed remedy, the shaft should be at least as strong as original if done with precision.
I would add that a few plug welds thru the original shaft and down into the inner new tube sleeve would be a good idea. Have done that successfully on other shafts, but not a tt shaft.

tgmilazzo

I have a 68 with a telescoping column and am running into the same problem. Would it be possible to have a machine shop cut and respline the bottom of the lower shaft to the appropriate length thereby avoiding welding issues?
-Tony

Jim Shea

I would think that the lower shaft could be disassembled from the steering column and the lower end cut off and a new splined end machined further up the shaft.

The 1967 lower shaft is quite a bit longer than the 1968. The 1968 plastic bushing would have to be shortened as well to allow the steering shaft to be shortened 2 inches.

Having a machine shop cut off and machine a new spline on the lower end rather is much more preferable than cutting out a section of steering shaft and welding the shaft back together.

Jim

tgmilazzo

Jim,
On a related note when you push any of the lower column shafts further up into the column doesn't this render the collar that the lower bearing sits against inoperable as it will be further back from the lower bearing and retainer? Not sure if mine was correct or Bubba'd but it has a thin metal collar tack welded onto the shaft about 6" back from the end of the lower shaft.

Jim Shea

I had failed to take into account the brazed (or tack welded) collar on the lower end of the steering shafts on all of the 1967 and 1968 standard as well as the telescoping columns. The bearing package in those two years required that a spring load the inner race of the lower bearing against that collar.

So the correct way would be to cut off and remachine the correct number of splines and notch in the shortened steering shaft.

As mentioned previously, the lower steering shaft in a 1969 and later (2nd generation function locking) column does not have a collar and can be successfully telescoped back into the steering column
Jim

tgmilazzo

I'm still waiting for Borgeson to get back to me but I think the easiest and cheapest way to get around this will be to put in a non-telescoping column from a 68 which seem to be pretty available. Ididit said their column will not work and Flaming River said theirs would work but I would have to cut it, losing the splines in the process, but could use a ujoint on the double d shaft. I hope Borgeson starts informing customers that the kit doesn't easily work with the 68 with tele.