I noticed a little play in my stering colum. Decided to let if go til this mornign and I would investigate before beginging the days work. Checked all my fluids and then took a look at the colum. It wiggles a bit. ALL 4 bolts are loose. The the right side no problem tightened them right up. the left side Crap, stripped. Bolts pulled right out with my fingers. Forward bolt is about 1/2 " longer then the rear. I thought may be I could use the longer bolt in the rear hole and catch some new threds. No such luck. Couldn't even get it in the whole seems to be a smig larger in diameter.
Anyone have a similar experience?
Suggestions???
thanks
Joe
Well, that's a shame. Sounds like some DPO got sloppy with those fairly large bolts that hold the power steering gear box assembly down to the top of the bell housing. I guess those are the ones you mean? According to the parts book those should all be the same length and are M12x30 with a washer.
The good news is that near as I can tell from the exploded diagrams in the parts and workshop manuals is that Yanmar just bolted the steering gear box in that location because it was a convenient hard point. All the magic happens inside the steering gear box itself, nothing extends or connects lower inside the bell housing cavity. Except maybe the ends of the mounting bolts. And of course the bell housing is just a big old cavity filled with dust and dirt and a manual clutch. So you can feel free to tap those mounting holes larger or preferably install some of the modern types of thread restoration gizmos without worry about what happens with metal shavings and such disappearing into the bell housing. The process of tapping, drilling, re-threading, or helicoiling....if helicoils are still the hot setup is today......I'm betting that none of that kind of repair work is going to add enough in the way of metal shavings or crud to what that manual clutch has to live with anyway.
Bottom line: So after looking at the manuals again, it seems to me that you have a hassle rather than a disaster. And it's one that requires some craftsmanship rather than dollars. And you can even use it gingerly....But best to get the steering gear box nailed down solidly before you end up losing steering altogether or replacing 4 sets of threads instead of just a couple.
Of course there is the wrong way to do it as well. Just for grins we might as well cover one of those too.
Aside: Sometimes just getting by is good enough. Although come to think of it that is what happened when whoever put the wrong bolts in there in the first place. So I'll understand if you are a little weak on the "getting by" approach. But I know of at least one Just Getting By type of old mechanic's trick that isn't taught in schools.
JUST GETTING BY TRICK #1 for stripped bolts:
First thing is to get that wrong bolt out and measure it up. Poke around in there. Maybe you can figure out what really happened and maybe even get a line on "why". If all you want to do is steer for home and the bolt is usable but the casting hole is stripped....well, the bolt can be wrapped with some good polyester thread or some small diameter copper wire. Just wrap it enough to fill in the threads up to the original diameter and sometimes you can poke the wrapped bolt into the stripped hole and catch a few threads and go ahead and tighten it up enough to get home. This works for leaky hose and hydraulic fittings too. Surprisingly well.
For a really first class "shade-tree" zero dollar repair for stripped bolts in cast iron housings you can use a coarse-thread bolt that will just go into the hole, grease the bolt or use teflon tape, and then wrap the threaded part in soft iron or copper wire just enough to make it up to or a little larger than the the original major diameter. And then slather the whole thing with a good metallic epoxy putty, force it into the hole like a peg, let it set for 48 hours...and hope. I've used Devcon Titanium Putty # 10760 for this and similar purposes - and also 3M 5200 Marine with various types of powdered metal stirred in to fudge it up to composite strength. But can't remember having ever tried the trick with something as demanding as a steering mounting with a large bolt.
Even should these back woods tricks work, there's probably some helicoil type gizmo from McMaster-Carr online that is better. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if McMasters sells some kind of insert that is good enough to hold full torque.
Anyone know or have used one?
Good Luck, rScotty
