Caster shims + adjustable beam = problems with Steering box?

Ghia Nut · Post by **Ghia Nut** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:07 am

Ok, this has been itching me and will continue to do so. I installed my puma beam and had to throw together the fron suspension before the towing company tried to tow my car out of the lot without a front axel... any ways, I had to force in the rubber bushing that goes between the steering colum and box. Within the next couple of months I will be going through my front beam AGAIN to make sure everythings right and I know for a fact that that rubber connector is going to be supper stressed due to the alignment issue. My steering works without problems, dont get me wrong, but I know that that rubber connector is going to wear out if not break some 10x faster. Did you guys just slam it in there like I did or what?

P.S Ozzie, I need to get some Aircooled Road Racer stickers

karol · Post by **karol** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:39 pm

hi i had the same problems when i installed puba beam with caster shims. ppl from this forum advice me to to notch clamp that attach box to beam and align steeringbox to make it in line with column. now it is ok. before it was impossible to put urethane joint between box and column, i had to use crappy one that is soft and flex very easy.

gcorrado · Post by **gcorrado** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:17 pm

interesting. i had no such issue with a stock beam. is the thought that the tab on the puma beam is just a little bit off from stock, and that with caster shims you're now out of spec?

Ozzie · Post by **Ozzie** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:25 pm

gc; I have no clue.
GN; Mine was a bit cumbersome to get in, but I worked with it untill it was there. The urethane coupling was an afterthought on my part, so I actually did it twice. "Forced?" Did you have to really squeeze it between the shafts? Are the shafts so out of alignment that the dough-nut flexes a bunch?

Ghia Nut · Post by **Ghia Nut** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:08 pm

yeah, it flexes quite a bit
think of it being like maybe 7* out of alignment to where the bending is done through the doughnut
its not cool

Ozzie · Post by **Ozzie** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:37 pm

7 deg on a 2" tube is 1/8".
O.K. but the shafts are coming together close enough that you can get the dough-nut to bolt up. If you rotated the steering box on the torsion tube, the shafts would get farther out of alignment where you couldnt get them together?
Why did they make them out of rubber to start with? I don't think you have a problem.

Post by **Marc** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:42 pm

Note that the stock steering box clamp has a notch on either side. One's for installation a Beetle, the other for a 'Ghia where the steering column is closer to horizontal. Sometimes solving coupler misalignment is as simple as flipping the bracket around...but in my experience the Brazilian beams are notorious for having the locating lug misindexed, in most cases either the lug or the notch has to be modified to compensate as karol had to do.

gcorrado · Post by **gcorrado** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:53 pm

just as i suspected! thanks marc for shedding you usual light on the subject.