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.

[Altaran]

So just as a small review on the fuller shaft, I finally installed mine 2 weeks ago and also was able to test it immediately on the ring.

- the groove to connect into the top side was rotated 90° compared to the stock unit. This is not really an issue, just means you have to adjust accordingly on the bottom connection.
- the shaft is considerably lighter lighter compared to the stock unit.
- to the steering feel: I previously ran a stock shaft with metal coupling piece. This already felt better than the rubber guibo, although that may be related to the rubber being 20 years old at the time. The fullers driveshaft does make a difference. There's less resistance in the steering, which I attribute to the second joint relieving pressure on the shaft that a solid coupler on OEM shaft definitely causes. Steering feels natural and the response is sharp, so this was definitely a good upgrade. And just in case this thing will for some reason develop play with the track abuse: for 120 bucks, it's not a pain to replace and the option for a crush section still gives peace of mind you won't spear your chest in case you crash.

P.S. a friend bought the shaft from Burkhart and that this is even heavier than stock. Haven't tried it driving though as he hasn't installed it.

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