[WRXEATR]

If you have replaced everything imaginable on your front end and STILL have some slight play/wobble in your steering wheel accompanied by excessive road vibration, this DIY is for you. See the before/after comparison at the end of this DIY for more info. This is by far THE best thing I have ever done for my ///M3 as far as driving feel is concerned. (aside from the Z3 rack of course! ) This part essentially serves the same function that the drive shaft guibo does; absorbing vibration, and reducing shock transferred from the road to the steering wheel.

NOTE: This job involves temporarily unbolting the steering rack, to shift it and gain enough clearance to remove the coupling from the steering column. Don't let this intimidate you, this is a 1-1.5 hour job MAX, and a 3 on a scale of 1-10 if 1 is removing one of your wheels.

The guibo/coupling being discussed here is PN 32311092949

#3 in the picture:



What you will need:

1. 13,15mm wrenches.
2. Breaker bar.
3. Ratchet, and 13,15mm sockets; 6 point of course.
4. Some PB Blaster. (Not required, but will make your job MUCH easier)
5. A wobble fitting for your ratchet.
6. A somewhat large Flathead screwdriver.
7. 6" Socket extension. (again, not needed but helpful.)

On With the Procedure

Step 1: Roll the car up on ramps. The wheels need to be stationary so we do not run into any misalignment with the wheels, and the steering wheel.

Step 2. Locate your steering wheel coupling. It looks like this:



Step 3: Grab your friendly neighbor hood PB Blaster, and spray it onto the areas where the coupling connects to both the steering column, and at the bottom where it connects to the steering rack. Also apply PB to the two bolts and nuts securing the coupling to the teethed column/rack shafts. Let sit for 5 minutes or so.



Step 4: Begin loosening the two bolts and their nuts that secure the ends of the coupling to the shafts. Set them aside and clean them off a little if they're covered in nasty road grime. The bolt heads and nuts are 13mm.



Step 5: Get a black sharpie and mark both of the shafts where the pinch grooves on the coupling meet the shafts. This will help you get everything back together with the same rotational orientation that it came out in. If your PB blaster did its job, you should be set. Take your beefy flat head and tap at the bottom of the coupling, forcing it upwards more onto the shaft coming down from your steering column. Your objective here is to get the coupling up as far as possible with the LEAST amount of shaft from the rack side still inside the coupling.



Step 6: Unbolt your steering rack. This was the hardest part of the job only because the bolts were so darn tight. Get your breaker and use it on the bolt heads, and use your 15mm wrench to hold the nuts on the other side.

Steering rack bolts out......



Step 7: Lay on your back, with your feet coming out from under the motor, and grab the rack with your left hand on the left, right hand on the right, and VERY GENTLY slide the rack forward towards the front of the car about an inch or 2, or slightly more if needed. (how much you need to move the rack depends on how far you were able to push the coupling up the steering column shaft earlier.) You want to move the rack as gently, and as little as possible. Keep in mind everything that is attached, that gets stressed when you move it around.

Rack moved forward.....



Step 8: After moving the rack forward, you should have gained enough clearance to get the coupling freed from the steering rack shaft. Grab the coupling and pull it downwards, and off of the steering column shaft. Mind the orientation! The new one needs to go in the same way, not upside down! When it is completely off, add more PB to the 2 shafts. This will help you get the new on on later.

NOTE: Be careful not to rotate the steering column shaft too much otherwise you steering wheel rotation will no longer be coordinated to your traveling in a straight line. Example: You may be driving straight, but you steering wheel is 60 degrees rotated clockwise.

Old coupling out.....







Take a minute and look at your old coupling. If you've got over 100K, expect to see major cracking, and reduced strength of the rubber. I could almost bend mine in half.

Step 9: Get your new coupling. Both ends are NOT the same, although they look like it at first glance. One end has a longer face than the other and is stamped with a production run ID number. The side of the coupling with the larger face is the top, and connects to the steering column NOT the rack.



Step 10: Place the coupling onto the steering column end FIRST. Put it on the shaft so that the pinch groove is lined up with your sharpie mark from before. When the coupling is on the steering column shaft, move your rack back into its original place, and insert the bolts back through the bottom so it can resume its native position. Do not add the nuts and tighten it down yet.




Step 11: Even though you tried to not rotate the steering column shaft, like me, you still did. Get into your car, and make sure your steering wheel is centered before you re-connect your steering column shaft to the coupling. Your use of the sharpie earlier should have minimized the chance of improper orientation, but check anyways.

Step 12: Get back under the car, and slide the coupling down so that you connect the steering column, and the steering rack shaft.

Step 13: Tighten the steering rack down with the nuts, and tighten the coupling up with its nuts/bolts. There is a channel etched into the steering rack shaft the prevents you from not sliding down the coupling far enough. If the bolt does not go through the lower part of the coupling, you are not lined up right.




Torque spec for the coupling bolts = 19Nm
Torque spec for rack to sub frame M10 bolts = 42Nm

You're done! Replace your under panel, drop the car and go hit the highway!


Before/After thoughts:

Before doing this, my steering wheel was very wobbly; it felt very "rubbery" if you will. It felt very weak, and lacking backbone. I would get real bad rebound when I hit a bump, along with feeling a lot of road vibration that I shouldn't have.

With the new bushing, I feel that there is much better steering response along with SIGNIFICANTLY reduced vibration. The steering wheel is now MUCH smoother, and feels much more responsive.

[puopolvj]

Super write-up! Thanks for taking the time.

[fiveightandten]

Nice job man.

Just when you think you've got a handle on all the little things that can be replaced to improve the driving experience...

To ensure that the wheel won't be out of alignment, i'd try a few things:
1) Put the front end up on ramps so the wheels don't move.
2) If you don't have ramps, pick some up, or pick up a cheap laser level at Home Depot. Pop the wheels off, put the level flush against the brake rotor and shine it on the wheel well...mark the alignment in the wheel well with a paint pen.
3) Put a ring of painters tape around the steering wheel. Get another piece of painters' tape and secure it to the headliner directly above the steering wheel. Secure a piece of string to it with a washer tied to the end and let it hang down right to the top of the wheel. Mark the tape on the wheel at 12:00 with a pen. Or...
4) Use some string or wire to hold the steering wheel in place. Loop it around the 2 lower spokes (or center one if you have a 3 spoke) and loop it around the brake pedal, or one of the rails under the driver's seat.

[epj3]

lol nice. i like your gloves, hope they keep your hands pretty

[WRXEATR]

Originally Posted by epj3

lol nice. i like your gloves, hope they keep your hands pretty

I hope your being sarcastic!

Mechanix gloves FTMFW!

Originally Posted by fiveightandten

Nice job man.

Just when you think you've got a handle on all the little things that can be replaced to improve the driving experience...

To ensure that the wheel won't be out of alignment, i'd try a few things:
1) Put the front end up on ramps so the wheels don't move.
2) If you don't have ramps, pick some up, or pick up a cheap laser level at Home Depot. Pop the wheels off, put the level flush against the brake rotor and shine it on the wheel well...mark the alignment in the wheel well with a paint pen.
3) Put a ring of painters tape around the steering wheel. Get another piece of painters' tape and secure it to the headliner directly above the steering wheel. Secure a piece of string to it with a washer tied to the end and let it hang down right to the top of the wheel. Mark the tape on the wheel at 12:00 with a pen. Or...
4) Use some string or wire to hold the steering wheel in place. Loop it around the 2 lower spokes (or center one if you have a 3 spoke) and loop it around the brake pedal, or one of the rails under the driver's seat.

Good ideas....! Did you just come up with these? Nick, you're like an innovation MACHINE!

[fiveightandten]

[Roland H]

Couple of things.

1. Use ramps if possible
2. Don't put jackstands under the jack pads. They are jack pads, not jack stand pads.
3. If you have access to the tool that holds your steering wheel straight, use it.

Otherwise, not too bad. Very good DIY.

[tacm3]

Another method to try to keep the wheels straight is to use some bright paint (red) and a thin paint brush to mark the steering column and rack where the split is for the coupling's bolts. I have a jar of red touch up paint with a brush in the cover left over from one of my old cars that I use for this purpose.

[WRXEATR]

Originally Posted by Roland H

Couple of things.

1. Use ramps if possible
2. Don't put jackstands under the jack pads. They are jack pads, not jack stand pads.
3. If you have access to the tool that holds your steering wheel straight, use it.

Otherwise, not too bad. Very good DIY.

Is it a good idea to have the front wheels on ramps with the rack hanging there loose???? Wouldn't that put some uber stress on the tie rod joints @ the rack?

[epj3]

Originally Posted by Roland H

Couple of things.

1. Use ramps if possible
2. Don't put jackstands under the jack pads. They are jack pads, not jack stand pads.
3. If you have access to the tool that holds your steering wheel straight, use it.

Otherwise, not too bad. Very good DIY.

Nothing wrong with jackstands under the hockey pucks... where else would you put them? Frankly I trust my (not cheap) set of jackstands more than ramps... and I used to be a big fan of rhino ramps.