How do I know when the coupler is fully seated.

[kingofthecastle]

I had extreme difficulty removing the coupler and now I can't seem to get it seated fully. I took a picture before I took it off and it looks to be in the same spot now after I've reinstalled but the bolt won't go through. I think I may have mangled it when trying to separate the clasp. I just want to know what's a sure fire way to tell if it is fully seated on the shaft.

Thanks.

[kingofthecastle]

I read somewhere that the bolt passes through the area in between the splines. Can someone confirm.

[Liquidity]

That’s what that groove is for, the bolt. There’s a matching one on the steering shaft as well.

- - - Updated - - -

I really hope you didn’t try pulling that off with the bolt still in there, because you definitely ruined everything if you managed to separate them with the bolts still in place.

[kingofthecastle]

Haha nope I took the bolt off before I took off the coupler. Just to clarify, the groove is the area between the upper and lower splines of the steering rack shaft?

[importbanana]

the coupler is fully seated when the bolt hole is aligned with the groove so the bolt goes through, if it wasn't fully down the bolt wouldn't go in.

[spyderg0d]

Haha nope I took the bolt off before I took off the coupler. Just to clarify, the groove is the area between the upper and lower splines of the steering rack shaft?

Yes.

[kingofthecastle]

Yes.

Thank you for confirming.

Hopefully some others can tune into this as well. The coupler is about 1/4 in from being completely seated and aligned with the groove. It is not moving at all anymore. Here are some of the things I have tried, was hoping others could offer advice as well.

-Grease
-Rotating the steering while simultaneously tapping on the backside of the coupler with chisel and hammer. (worked for like 3/4 of the way)
-Opening the crimp up with chisel and rubber mallet.
-Disconnecting the power steering rack from crossmember and pushing from beneath.

Next thing I'm going to try tonight is removing the coupler from the column side.

Does anyone have any other ideas I can try? Really at a loss, even with a second person helping me it isn't budging anymore.

Thanks in advance.

[spyderg0d]

Not all coupler sections use the divet in the rack splines. Some just pinch the coupler on the spline shaft. A good way to tell if the coupler is sufficiently on is the shape of the flex joint. If the flex joint is flat and not squished into a deformed shape, then it's most likely on all the way and just needs to be tightened with the bolt. There's no danger of the coupler coming off or undone or anything as the rack doesn't pull out to allow the steering coupler to come apart.

If the steering column is bolted, if the coupler is on the shaft and not over flexed, and the rack is bolted on, there's no way for the coupler to come off.

[importbanana]

isn't the steering shaft a telescope design like on newer cars? If yes, your flex disc could be flat, indicating fully seated coupler, all the time.

If there's a groove, and the bolt doesn't go in if the hole isn't aligned with it, then it's not seated.