Posted by Erik (IP: 209.179.228.121) on September 04, 2000 at 02:33:53:
Now, I am posting because I want to inform you all of a potential hazard. Some of you who have worked on your car may have replaced this item but most have never been touched and are 23+ years old. The item I am refering to is the rubber steering box coupler that connects the column to the box. I have had poor handling, and alot of play in steering for a few weeks now. I also heard noises coming from my front end. I checked everything I could think of, but nothing was wrong, until lastnight when something inside me said "Check the steering box". It turned out the rubber coupler was bad, and the column had moved up and the pins in the coupler were no longer in the stolts of the column shaft. The bolts were still connected, but since the column shaft wasn't in place the rubber started to twist and one bolt hole ripped. When I removed the coupler today, the rubber was twisted(along with weather rot), one bolt hole tore, and the pins weren't in contact with the shaft, so only one bolt connected to the rubber was all that was steering my car. It was on the verge of breaking and if that had happened I would have lost control of my car and may have crashed. Sorry for this such a long story, but I wanted everyone to be aware of this old part that is often neglected when fixing a car. Thanks for reading.