Steering Column Shaft Repair Kit

[Cuda Cody]

This was an old Kit that Mopar sold to repair the collapsed steering column shafts.  It did not replace the pins, instead it glues the shafts together so they would still collapse if in an accident. 

[Timbbuc2]

Thats interesting,  what is it Loctite?

[Cuda Cody]

I think it's a form of epoxy?  But that's just a guess.   

[headejm]

I'm not sure I'd want a glued steering shaft. Wonder what the failure rate of the repair was?

[anlauto]

I've heard of people trying to melt plastic back in the holes.....

[Cuda Cody]

   I think that would be a good place to start.  They make plastic welding kits that I've used on Grilles and it would be easy to melt some plastic back in there!  Man that's a good 

[SteveG]

Thats interesting,  what is it Loctite?

I have seen Loctite used mostly for bolt threads where you install a bolt and don't want it working loose. It's a liquid that is kind of tacky and hardens up when it dries. The bolts are still removable, just takes more effort.

[cataclysm80]

These kits can still be found NOS.
They're collectors items.  Don't expect to be able to use them, because the liquids will be all dried up.
It's basically a glue.   It was made by Loctite, but there's several different kinds of Loctite, and this may not be the same stuff as threadlocker sold at the parts store.
Here's a copy of the instructions that might be a little easier to read.
Mopar discontinued these kits due to accident liability.  They decided it would be better to suggest steering column replacement.

[Cuda Cody]

Thanks for the photos @cataclysm80   Didn't know those kits were made by Loctite.  I learned something new!!!   

[cataclysm80]

Collapsible "Telescoping" steering columns are on 1967 and up muscle car era Mopars.
Saginaw Steering Gear supplied them to Chrysler & GM.
Saginaw had to keep the Chrysler & GM versions slightly different, but they work the same way.
The collapsible column has a two piece shaft pinned with an injected plastic substance. 

The following quote is from a worker who assembled the shafts...
"In 1970, I worked at the Detroit Universal Division of Chrysler where I operated one of the machines which injected the white plastic into the column.  We simply extended the shaft and inserted it into the machine before we hit "start".  Once an hour or so, inspectors took one column to test for the "breakaway" pressure needed.  Approximately 550 pounds of force.
Plastic is injected through four small holes in the hollow piece into a pair of annular grooves on the solid portion of the shaft.  The four small holes filled with plastic form the shear pins.  Upon impact, the shear pins break off and the shaft gradually telescopes against a resistance provided by the plastic collars in the annular grooves."

If you had a large hydraulic press, you could test a shaft by placing a scale (measures weight) on the press, putting the bottom of the shaft onto the scale, and applying pressure to the top of the shaft with the press.  The amount of pressure applied will register on the scale, and the shaft should collapse around 550 pounds.

The plastic injected into the shaft may have been nylon.  Nylon has a melting point of about 428 degrees Fahrenheit.
Regular high temperature hot glue has a melting point of about 392 degrees Fahrenheit. (do not even consider using low temp hot glue for this)
Hot glue conveniently includes a way to dispense it at high temperatures into small openings.

Here is someone else's attempt at using hot glue to fix a collapsed shaft...
"OK somebody asked about hot glue... tried that and as soon as the glue hits the cold shaft its all over... I did not trust this method. Now that i think about it ... maybe preheating the shaft to say 100 degrees and then injecting the hot glue might work. you would have to tape off both sides of the hole wile waiting for it to cool.
Tell ya what.... I have all the proper test stuff here and will try this over the next couple days and will report back the results.

OK guys follow along... But first understand this..." I will not be held accountable or liable for the results of this test. It is neither recomended nore suggested that this is safe. This could be dangerous and or deadly.

The scope of the test is to repair a sheared collapsible shaft from a steering column. It has been suggested that Hot Glue may be a solution.
So here we go...
Test 1
I used a standard off the shelf hot glue gun and glue from a hardware store.

I cleaned all components with laquer thinner and dried with a rag.

I aligned the two halfs of the shaft together and put the tip of the glue gun on the hole and filled the shaft till the glue came out the other side. This was way to easy. I let the part cool for 15 min. and then put in press to test holding force.

The part flailed as soon as i put pressure on it. Hmm

So i took it apart and noticed the fill was not complete. So...
Test #2
I determined that the best way to get a good fill was to obstruct the exit hole. So i held a piece of papertowel over the exit hole. This seemed to be much better although it was really hot on the fingers!!! 
I then retested the pressure in the press. BINGO!!! got a reading. This time i got 1400 lbs. of force before it let go.

I repeated this test 3 times. I got different readings every time. They varied between 500 and 1400 lbs. each time. Each time the glue filled different and the more fill you could get the better the hold.

Ok guys heres the issues...
The calculation for the ammount of force recomended by the government comes to approx. 550 lbs. Since i had so much variation in the test parts this does not seem feasable or pratical and in fact could be very dangerous. You dont know how well you did till you test it, so there is no way to know if its right.
This was perfected by the Big Three and they had percision injecting machines that not only could put the material in under pressure but also could verify quantity of material used. This prevented a short fill and thus garenteed a consistant fill."

More testing might be able to determine the proper amount of hot glue to use.
Hot glue comes in sticks and is pretty easy to measure.  (mark or cut a stick)


Alternative methods...

Find a different glue or epoxy which has a sheer strength around 550 pounds, and use that.

Drill and tap the sheer pin hole to accept a small diameter nylon bolt (plumbing department).  Install the nylon bolt and cut off the bolt head.  Now you have a new sheer pin.

Weld the shaft solid  (not recommended)


Anytime you're working with a collapsed shaft, make sure the pot coupling on the steering box is the version with a small pin that prevents the coupling guts from sliding out. 
The last thing anyone needs is to have the shaft get shorter while driving and come up out of the pot coupling so that the steering wheel is no longer connected to the steering box.

[Cuda Cody]

   Great follow up @cataclysm80   Really impressed with your knowledge and help.   

[ec_co]

very impressive coverage 

[anlauto]

Dumb question:
What happens if you use nothing ?....just stretch out the shaft to the required length and install it ?
It will always retain the ability in case of an accident, and I can't see any reason why it would move around once installed

[Cuda Cody]

I think that would be safer then welding it.  There's a small pin on the coupler to keep the shaft from coming out.  But it would sill be able to slide up and down inside the coupler and the shoes inside the coupler might get hung up on the pin that is there to make sure it doesn't come out?   

Dumb question:
What happens if you use nothing ?....just stretch out the shaft to the required length and install it ?
It will always retain the ability in case of an accident, and I can't see any reason why it would move around once installed

[MoparDave]

well, back when I started here at the dealer we use to sell a repair kit for this # 3514996. Which was an epoxy of some sort. Once that went to NS1 no longer available. Many people just use an aluminum rivet stem. that way its strong enough to hold yet soft enough to break,