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legotech7
Samba Member
Joined: May 09, 2009
Posts: 879
Location: North Carolina
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 Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:36 pm Post subject: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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I'm working on a 64 Dune buggy. And am attempting to add an electronic steering unit to . May I say, no fun at all. Before I get all the why's an negative comments as to why I would put an electric power steering unit in such a light weight vehicle such as a fiber glass buggy?.. Well because I can, and thought it would be fun to do so. Found out , its not that much fun.....Anyway, I'm almost there, but my problem is I need to mate a super beetle universal steering shaft from the gearing spline of the steering side if the column to the steering box, witch is a 64 beetle box, with the 5/8-36 spline. The super beetle spline are different. I don't recall what they are. How can I mate the two together? the shaft fits right over the splined shaft of the steering box with a snug fit but will not tighten all the down or in if you will , enough to hold on to the spline teeth of the steering box. I don't want to weld them together as suggested by some, as I would like to find a way to just use a universal joint to take it apart if I ever have to for maintenance and such... Would appreciate any ideas... the bottom photo is mostly my issue.... Thanks...
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MrGoodtunes
Samba Member
Joined: May 14, 2012
Posts: 851
Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:36 pm Post subject: Re: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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Where's your steering rag joint? There's good reason why VW included such, e.g. vibration dampening. But for you, I have even more reason why a rag joint's a good idea 'cuz you could put a '64 flange on the side that connects to steering gearbox input, and a super Beetle flange on the side that hooks up with steering column U-joint. That's what I did in order to get my buggy's steering wheel where I wanted it, but I used only 1 super Beetle U-joint by cutting the double U-joint part in two. Maybe you can see it at top of this pic:
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legotech7
Samba Member
Joined: May 09, 2009
Posts: 879
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 4:38 pm Post subject: Re: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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| Not sure what I'm looking at here. Is your car a super beetle or a standard beetle?.... And what exactly did you do here. Sorry if I missed your point..... |
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MrGoodtunes
Samba Member
Joined: May 14, 2012
Posts: 851
Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 6:44 pm Post subject: Re: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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Sorry, my pic probably is of no help. I thought your problem was fitting Super Beetle spline on U-joint to 1964 Beetle spline on steering gear, right? So my suggestion is to use a rag joint because you can use a Super Beetle flange on one side of the rag joint and 1964 Beetle flange on the other side of the rag joint.
Here's a pic from EVfun, it shows the rag joint with a flange on each side:
Back when I was re-locating my steering column to get steering wheel where I wanted it (late 1980s), there was a foreigh car salvage yard nearby. It was easy to find male or female flanges for Super Beetles or older standard Beetles. And the price was right, got one of these for just $5.
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Letterman7
Samba Member
Joined: March 14, 2004
Posts: 3198
Location: Downingtown, PA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 9:12 am Post subject: Re: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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| Get a SB steering box. Problem solved. |
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slalombuggy
Samba Member
Joined: July 17, 2010
Posts: 9143
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:08 pm Post subject: Re: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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| Letterman7 wrote: |
| Get a SB steering box. Problem solved. |
Except the SB box doesn't bolt to the beam....there's no beam in a SB.
Skip the rag jpint, just bolt the SB flange straight to the beetle steering box. The rag jpint will just mess with the ujoint. |
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MrGoodtunes
Samba Member
Joined: May 14, 2012
Posts: 851
Location: South Florida
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| Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:20 pm Post subject: Re: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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| slalombuggy wrote: |
| ... The rag jpint will just mess with the ujoint. |
Work'd well for me, tho I'll admit it gave me a hard time at first. The rag joint tried to act like a limited sort of U-joint. This made steering lumpy, the whole column was trying to swing! Here's how I managed to get the steering wheel where I wanted, and have it working smooth and easy:
(1) Loosen'd the U-bolt that holds the column up near steering wheel. Enlarged the firewall hole where other end of column is held, and pack'd foam padding around column at that hole. Basically making sure I could move the column a bit in all 3 dimensions; up & down, left & right, in & out.
(2) Loosen'd the clamp that holds steering gearbox to upper torsion tube, allowing it to rotate a bit either way. And then last, but far from least, did this important step.
(3) Raised front of car and then set it down to be supported by a stack of wood blocks under the lower trailing arm at each front wheel. I made sure the stacks were just the right height so that front wheels were gently kissing the garage floor. This made it so easy to steer, I could turn wheels lock to lock using just one hand on the rag joint, with the whole system fairly close to where it is for normal driving. Finally, I manipulated the gearbox on torsion tube as well as column position at firewall while rotating the rag joint as if it were the steering wheel. Did this many times for slightly different positions of gearbox and column. Once I found the sweet spot, I tighten'd up clamps and built a fiberglass column support at firewall.
Steering's been working well ever since (over 3 decades now, and my buggy is a daily driver). |
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Letterman7
Samba Member
Joined: March 14, 2004
Posts: 3198
Location: Downingtown, PA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 2:12 pm Post subject: Re: Help with to mate steering issue... |
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| slalombuggy wrote: |
| Letterman7 wrote: |
| Get a SB steering box. Problem solved. |
Except the SB box doesn't bolt to the beam....there's no beam in a SB.
Skip the rag jpint, just bolt the SB flange straight to the beetle steering box. The rag jpint will just mess with the ujoint. |
True, but it wouldn't be hard to fab a couple brackets to make it work. Even a flat plate welded to the beam would suffice. |
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