Steering Coupling Price

[Barracooda]

I hadn't even considered that, I never had the fender liners out before. I went and took a look, and it does promising.

What's the aluminum shear plate, the subframe reinforcement plate? I do have that removed currently. I might be able to loosen the top bolt from underneath, but getting a new one started would be a different story.

[e46IX]

That fuller one looks like it should be for a RHD model e46. Who actually installed that piece here? If it's for RHD it's not going to fit our cars.

[e46IX]

I hadn't even considered that, I never had the fender liners out before. I went and took a look, and it does promising.

What's the aluminum shear plate, the subframe reinforcement plate? I do have that removed currently. I might be able to loosen the top bolt from underneath, but getting a new one started would be a different story.

just take the airbox out and some stuff on that side, you should be able to access it from up top with some extensions and swivels. That steering shaft is not the part that goes through your firewall and inside your cabin. It goes from basically the firewall on the engine bay side to the steering rack. It's not that difficult to remove, I spend more time banging them off loose (rusty cars up north) compared to actually removing the bolts.

[George Hill]

The top bolt I do it from the bottom, you'll have to pull the reinforcement plate off and release the FCAB bracket to the body. BUT its probably "easier" to pull the plenum to access the top bolt (more work to get there, but once you are there its very easy).

The lower bolt goes through the wheel well, no splash shields need to be removed for this one.

[Barracooda]

I think I've got it figured out from underneath. I wasn't considering that the top joint will extend into the engine bay quite a bit once the bottom coupling is removed. With the bottom coupling out of the way, I was able to remove the top bolt fairly easily, and the shaft came out without any fuss.

My work light died in the middle of the job so I've got it recharging. As long as I can get the top back in place on the splines correctly, I should be in good shape. I can get one hand up there now, so it looks promising.

Thank you everyone for the tips, I'm trying not to have to remove more parts than necessary. Most jobs for these cars have some great instructions that folks have written up over the years, but I couldn't find much of anything specific to this.

[Barracooda]

I got her installed, wasn't too bad after all. I did have to work on the grooves a bit in the top coupling of the new Fuller's shaft. Initially the new shaft didn't want to slide into place properly, it would start but got tight quick and never felt right. The top coupling has a slot cut in it to locate it in position on the steering column. The first groove on one side of this slot was mostly cut away, but the top edge was rolled over against the next groove. I cleaned it up carefully with a diamond file, and then it slipped right on.