Finally able to get to column. The good news is the cable I made fits. I read somewhere that there was a concern that the OE cable was a tad too short so I purposely made mine a bit longer than measured above. The cable I removed was 3.5" long, the one I made, 3.938". No problem, I can adjust length by trimming. (more on that later)

The bad news: My OE cable is fine. The problem lies with the nylon (pvc or whatever) nut that the motion screw runs through is stripped. All is not lost, the metal bracket it is attached to is bolted on, making it removable. The downside is that the column will need to come out and be disassembled as the bracket is bolted from inside the column tube.

I read an opinion that the cause of failure results from a pot sensor that loses count of its position, thereby attempting to drive the column past its stops and causing either the cable to fray/split or the nut to strip. If this were the case the motor would probably never stop running. From what I can see, the column has two nice little spring and screw adjustments to draw wedges between the tube and shaft to eliminate rattle, a nice touch (read as a backhanded compliment, you'll soon read why.) However, an unsuspecting person may accidentally tighten the screws thinking they were part of the fastening or such. That would cause too much tension and overload the little motor and cable, etc. My greater suspect, however, is the fact that the column and tube have no slip bushing between them, only some sort of godawful grease that apparently doesn't perform adequately. This is witnessed by the transfer of metal between the two parts as evidenced by the black disoloration of the grease - aluminum particles rubbed from both and embedded in the 'lubricant'. And then there's my humble opinion regarding the inadequate amount of lubricant applied. Not trying to start a culture war but what is it with europeans? They have such great ideas yet such pathetic execution.

Soooo...... repeat failure would/will be expected unless the tube and shaft are removed, cleaned, lubricated and the wedges adjusted properly. Apparently this was designed as a 'good enough to live through warranty' part (even though it didn't always make that projection.) The simple addition of a very thin UHMW/polyethylene bushing would have staved off the problem.

I suppose the upside of all this is that I'll be able to take detailed pictures with the column out. Having the column out will also make it easier for me to ascertain the best length for the drive cable. And yes, it is easy to remove the motor and cable by only removing the knee panel below the column. The trick is to know what you're looking for once it is removed. I'll try to also document that procedure but it will be awkward to shoot due to the distance and clutter of other objects. Once you see the retention method it will become vastly easier to understand. The difficult portion, for me, will be coming up with a suitable repair/replacement for the stripped nut as the threads appear to be non-standard.

 

Well, scratch all of that. Finally removed the column from the car. It appears the supplier actually did have an elegant design - up to a point. The tubes do have slip rings in between, top and bottom, hidden by the adjusting wedges. O.K., so why wouldn't the column move even after removing the motor and cable?

Apparently the previous owner, or his henchman, decided to insert a Tek screw (self-drilling, has the drill point on the end) between the two tubes, locking them together. Nice. A cheap bandaid. Not a big problem, now that the column is out.

However, once disassembled the nasty portion of the design is that the stripped plastic nut's bracket, that the lead screw runs through, was bolted in from the inside of the inner tube with shear bolts - the type that the heads break from when sufficient torque is applied. There was no reason for their specific usage other than to make it more difficult to remove. (read: made to require column replacement rather than repair) This will slow me down for a few days, until I have a chance to get to a drill press.

Upside - with the column out I can get a better look at the lead screw nut. It appears to be a standard type thread. I was concerned it might be an Acme, or similar, thread which would limit my possibilities. At least I have the time to possibly dream up something that might be DIY friendly.

 

i ran into the same problem 2 years ago on an xj6,cable was totally sheared.thought i'd be slick and juat make a new one out of steel stock like JONES did. before installing i checked the opperation of motor,good thing i did ,turns out the reach motor would only turn one dirrection no matter wheather the key was in or out.so i just left it out an suffer..steve

 

I've fallen behind on many things lately. A couple weeks ago (maybe more) I had the column out and found the driven nut (plastic/whatever) stripped. Trying to be clever I drilled a few small holes on either side of the lead screw and inserted small pieces of spring wire to run against the lead screw, as new threads (kind of like a heli-coil - sorta.) Well, it worked...on the bench. In the car... not so well.

Being as The Derby, summer and nice weather are soon upon us I'm going to back-burner this repair until next fall. I have found suitable material to make a new nut so I'm confident I'll be able to take some pix and post my trials and tribulations for others' amusement.

 

Here's my "fix" to the cable. One end was stuck in the plastic gear, motor side and when I removed it the inner metal sleeve broke in two lenght wise.

 

dick
my 1996 xj6 steering column reach motor makes whirring sound only, in and out , no column movement. do think your cable or plastic threads stripped ??
are your cables still available to US, if so how much with shipping ??


thanks jim v jsv737@msn.com

 

Hi Jim,

Good luck with the column fix. I'm going to try and do an entire column swap.

I do hope you get to fly something better than that POS 737 someday! (I'm checked out in all three variants). One "puke" to another, of course.