Hi

My steering has been stiff in some positions of the steering wheel.
I have now pulled the lower steering column, and there are as feared stiff joints in the cardan section.
There are needle bearings in them as I understand, but is it serviceable ?
I found a repair kit from a Russian seller on eBay

If somebody has a spare column for sale I’m interested!!
Should be the same on all years XJ-S and also XJ series 3

 

The more common problem, I think, is they become loose and rattle....with the noise transmitting right up through the column.

As for too stiff, well.....I don't have a magic answer. There's no way to undo the wear. Soak the joint in ATF for a couple days. This will loosen any gunk and hopefully some oil will get into where it'll do some good. Not a true fix, obviously, but maybe better than nothing? Might smooth-out the action of the joint?

Back to rattling joints. I got a good used shaft from David Boger than i plan to install son n hopes of curing the infuriating rattle. The old shaft will be given to a machinist pal in hopes he can divine a way to rebuild them.......with the idea in mind that there might be a market for rebuilt shafts.

A couple weeks ago a guy on Ebay was selling a brand new shaft....surely one of the last in existence....for $500 !

I'd be interested in info on the repair kit from Russia

Cheers
DD

 

I have tried heating it gently and adding oil at same time. It moves more freely when warm, but returns to having resistance to move when cold. I think I have improved it though

The Russian bearing kit: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-XJ...-/133281619306

BR Leo

 

Hello friends.
This is my kit for sale on ebay. I took a photo when I changed the bearings on the shaft. I will attach these pictures in the near future. This replacement is not easy . The shaft parts can be accidentally damaged. Maybe it's easier to buy a used shaft.
Regards.
Nicolay

 

Hi Nicolay

Great to know you are the seller of this kit.

Status is that I by using a little heat, lots of oil. lots of moving forth and back combined with a substantial amount of luck ended up with a steering column with joints moving a lot more freely than before.
I have mounted it again, and it feels good.
The design looks failsafe to me as long as the bearing housings stays in place. I have not messed around with them, so I’m not worried about using it until a good shaft turns up.

Nicolay: I suppose the way to replace the bearings is simply to remove the bearing housings, crossing your fingers the inner races are ok and then press the new needle bearings in and secure them with new flangings ? Or are the inner bearing faces replaceable as well ?

 

Come on Nikolay, how do you install the new bearings?

 

I found these pictures.
jammed

Sandblasted. prepared tools. The hammer is the most needed!

I sharpened this valve to remove countersinks

With this turned nut we knock out the bearing

It looks something like this.

 

It must be very strongly clamped in a vise.

And here is the sick bearing

 

To pull out a part of the shaft, you need to move the bearing axis. Tight but it is possible.

Those two half rings for knocking out the bearing. Them can be seen on the previous picture

 

It is a little more difficult to knock out the bearing from this part of the shaft.

Well, that's all disassembled into separate parts.

How I pressed new ones did not take pictures. It was not difficult.

The old shaft with new bearings is ready for painting.
It was difficult to fix the bearing nicely and securely.
Be careful with the hammer. I wrinkled a couple of my fingers.

 

Guys
I am facing this exact problem. In my case, the bearing nearest to the rack is the worst one. This is a serious problem that we will all face very soon. SO Nicolay has done us all a huge service!

Having read Nicolay's post of today, I bravely got stuck in. It was not as hard as i feared, the pics below show how I did it:

The bearings are cup-shaaped, I used a dremel to grind off the centre 3/4 of the end of the bearing cap each side. Then I used it to carefully grind off the peened over metal that retains the bearings. Note, there is a rubber seal on the pin between the bering cap and the centre piece, each side. This will be toast by now. Use a point to dig it out first, so the rubber does not damp the hammer blows.

With one bit on a bit of wood and the other on a lower bit, I whacked the pin the bearings go over, out of the bracket. Onced set up, this was surprisingly easy.

Here it is coming out, the un-dremeled part of each bearing cap is still in place in the bracket

close up of the pin narly driven out

One bearing is out. The other was easily driven out once the pin was oiut of the bracket. I drilled a wide hole in a block of wood to support the bracket and drifted it out downwards.

Here are the bits all ready for the new bearings that I hope Nicolay can supply.

 

Greg, can you share the needle bearing part number?

I’m also curious, if one is satisfied with a set steering wheel position and therefore doesn’t mind sacrificing the telescoping function, perhaps a universal lower column would be a far better alternative? I’m about to replace the old Chevy 350 in my 1983 with a new one and would love to get rid of the little bit of play in my steering while the lower column is easily accessible.

 

In the end I could not make Nikolai's kit work to my satisfaction. I am not blaming the parts, just that I felt I could not get them into the colum UJ parts in a way that I trusted.
The problem with aftermarket parts when I looked into it, was that the joint in the Jaguars of this era seemed to be unique, in that it is semi-offset and I could not find an aftermarket part that looked as though it would work. I single UJ will not do it and nor will a double, at least as far as my amateur eye could tell.
In the end I found a NOS one. But a good second hand one would be fine, IF, repeat IF, the lower column is the source of your play.
I have notified the JEC that this is a potential problem for ALL Jaguar owners with cars made in the 1970s, '80s and early '90s.
Whether SNGB will be willing to remake them or do a rebuild on an exchange basis, I have not heard. Perhaps Paul, PTJS1 will know more?

Quite a few on ebay, this is a new one and wll worth grabbing, IMO!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/18614913430...4AAOSwmTNlRR8L

 

Thanks Greg, good to know. If we could rally together to propose a group buy from SNG or Moss, they may be willing to make it.

Cool that you found a brand new one, but too rich for my blood. I’m going to take advantage of the engine being out and try to figure something out. There has to be a magic combination of universal parts that will work. Perhaps a double or triple joint system might work if there’s a support bearing like this to prevent binding and wayward action: eBay steering column

Would need to find a place to mount it though, surely the driver’s side fender firewall but that’s easier for me than everyone still running the V12.

Would a double joint like this work like the offset feature? Joint

 

Plenty of second hand ones at low prices, I would look for one of those from a reliable supplier.
https://shop.everydayxj.com/XJ6_XJS_...4-cac27653.htm

The Jaguar system has three axes of articulation, all the aftermarket ones have two or four. That is the problem.

 

Greg,

I don't know if this part has been raised as part of our discussions with SNG. I hadn't raised it as I wasn't aware at the time that they were prone to failing and also NLA. Confusingly it seems there are a number of part numbers. I've done a bit of digging around this afternoon.

I think...the original XJ-S had part number C3059/1 or C3059/3 (the difference seems to be if it had the tall or short rack pinion)
In the early XJ-S C3059/1 seems to have superseded to C34856/2 (perhaps when the rack pinion changed?)

Part numbers C3059/1, C34856 & C34856/2 seem to have been fitted to Series 1 & Series 2 XJ6/12

Then HE-series XJS seem to have had CAC27653 fitted, but I don't know if there's a difference in the length compared to C3059/3?
Then that was superseded to BEC16333. I THINK that might be identical to CAC27673

Then confusingly, there's a supersession in the late cars. But for the first time there are different part numbers for LHD & RHD cars.
LHD is HHB9501AA
RHD is HHB9500AA

(If someone with a LHD car, could take some really clear pics of the joint on their LHD car, I'll compare it to my RHD car to see if there really is a difference)

Series 3 XJ6/12 also seem to have used the CAC27653, BEC16333 then the HHB9500AA & HHB9501AA

Anyway, I'll turn all the info over to our SNG liaison representative and make them aware of the increasing wear / failure that is being experienced in these column joints.

Cheers

Paul

 

Thanks Paul. I actually emailed SNG earlier today asking about producing this part. Just fyi in case that comes up. Hope I didn’t step on any toes. You’ve clearly done more digging than I did, but I think the XJS came with CAC27653, which based on my own searching is intended for the “short tower” rack. My understanding is all XJS’s came with a short tower design, and the later XJ6’s did, which seems to match up with the part number applications you found.

I’ll try to take clear pictures of mine tomorrow so you can compare.

 

Paul
Thanks for the info. I flagged this up with the JEC XJS section leader about a year ago, from memory.

 

Paul - I won't be able to easily get good photos of the steering shaft but I can certainly do that when I pull the motor in the next couple weeks no problem.

As a bandaid, I may try to put a c-clip or two in the joint to take up the slack. Something like this:https://www.autozone.com/gaskets-and...c&gad_source=1

I'll report how that goes.

 

I took out the lower column shaft and tried to put a c-clip on one of the bearing “shafts” to take up the slack. I couldn’t get it to go on, so I tried something else: squeezing it in a bench vise.

To my surprise, it eliminated the play, and the play is still gone two days later. The metal must be on the softer side, since it didn’t take a ton of force or the use of a propane torch. I have not reinstalled it in the car yet, hopefully I’ll do that tomorrow to see if that was indeed the cause of my “dead spot”.

It’s important to mention that the vise doesn’t squeeze the bearing caps, because the caps are recessed; all the pressure is being put on the thick metal which holds the bearings and caps in place.

Video to demonstrate: