[Greg dollman]

Thank you I will look at it tomorrow I put 2000 miles on last week and that play has to go
Do you know what the post is under for the rubber isolation device

[Richard]

http://newellgurus.com/showthread.php?ti...+AND+joint

[Greg dollman]

Richard Thank you for all the help it is the rubber it was all most ripped in two and i would of had no steering I will machine a new one from uhmw
Warning to anyone having this problem if it comes apart you will loss steering if it is like this one

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Thanks for this thread and some outside counsel, I have had my steering column out, replaced the lower end bearing and I also pulled the intermediate shaft and replaced the u-joints. 

Most of it went to plan except getting the bearing out of the bottom of the column. The blue plastic sleeve on mine did not want to budge. Tried carefully tapping it out with a hammer and screwdriver, but alas a big chunk ultimately broke off. At that point I was at the point of no return and I was able to tap more aggressively and it finally budged and slid out. 
Well what to do now? So I thought we’ll maybe I can get a larger bearing that would just press directly into the metal housing, and I would not need tha plastic sleeve. So I went on McMaster to see what was available, basically nothing larger than 2” and I needed 2.25” OD. So then it occurred to me, maybe I can just turn the plastic sleeve around, so I checked and the bearing had a good fit on the other side. So I trimmed off the remnants of the plastic shoulder and drove the plastic sleeve back in reversed and then was able to tap the bearing in. Worked out quite well. Actually something came up while I was telling my buddy this story and he said can you put another bearing in there, and he said “I would put two in there”. So I went ahead and ordered another bearing and I am going to go way overkill and put two bearings on the bottom of the column. 

I also noticed that there was no boot or seal to keep the conditioned air from going out around the steering shaft through the floor. So I made a boot out of some scrap vinyl I had laying around. It has Velcro on it so you can remove it without having to remove the column or intermediate shaft. 

I also made a lower column support. I ended up finding a stainless steel u-bolt clamp at work in our warehouse so I used that with some rod couplings and a couple of short sections of all thread bolted back to the column support steel. 

I am hopefully going to have a video of some of this work at some point.

Thought I had a photo of the new bearing install but somehow I missed getting one. I will get one when I add the additional bearing.

Here are some photos:
   
   
   
   

[Richard]

I can’t wait to hear your comments after the road test.

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I can’t wait to hear your comments after the road test.

Should be interesting, currently still on the hard stand trying to take care of things on the underside while I have it up in the air. Not sure when I will get it out for a test drive.

[Jack Houpe]

Jeff I like your idea of lower steering column brace!

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Jeff I like your idea of lower steering column brace!

Thanks, it really helped keep the column from moving. It still has a small amount of movement, but not nearly like before. 

Working on getting the drag link out today. Looks like someone was down there messing with things. The drag link ends were in a bit of a bind, they had each end twisted on the ball to the max amount and the opposite end was on the opposite side so it was locked up a bit. I did have a couple of times when it was hard to steer and I am wondering if that was the issue. I am having to pull it off to get it loose, could not get the ends to turn under the coach. So I am going to pull it off and get it in a vice so I can try to clock the ends where they should be. I got it off the pitman arm but I am having a time getting it loose from the bell crank. 

Was also looking all over the place for the front HCV and had not been able to find it. I was looking all over the sway bar since that's were Richard was saying his was. Well the mantra came in to play here, no two Newells are alike... My HCV is mounted on the passenger side frame rail and then the control rod goes down to the bottom plate of the air bag mount. I will try to snap a picture of it tomorrow.

[Jack Houpe]

I am use to working with car or airplanes in the Newell or bus world everything is so darn big, I struggle but I was lucky and used heat, PB blaster and a couple pipe wrenches.

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I am use to working with car or airplanes in the Newell or bus world everything is so darn big, I struggle but I was lucky and used heat, PB blaster and a couple pipe wrenches.

Yea, I may have to heat it. Biggest issue is under the coach its hard to get any kind of leverage. I had this same issue when I did the tie rod on my Wanderlodge. Once I got it off and put it in the vice I was able to use a pipe wrench with a cheater on it to get it to break loose. I am sure this will work as long as I can get the drag link out. The one end of the drag link is not very easy to get to because of the A-arm is in the way. You cannot even get a socket on it, I ended up using a wrench to get the nut loose. Luckily the nut came off fairly easy, just not having any luck getting the taper to break loose. I have wacked the arm with my sledge a couple times. I am sure if I could get a puller in there I could break it loose but there is not enough room. I am also a bit worried about hitting the arm too hard because I know there are bearings in the bell crank and I do not want to damage those.