What is wrong with my steering?
- Thread starter fihnguy
- Start date
fihnguy
New member
Thanks, man. Any idea what I can spray it with in order to lubricate it so that it will stay alive for a couple more weeks? I am driving to the airport tomorrow with this vehicle and it will sit there for 10 days, which is making me a little nervous.
I was right about the shaft, it is not arriving for another week or so.
I was right about the shaft, it is not arriving for another week or so.
TechWrench
Senior Member
What ever product you use, it needs to have a penetrating ability. Since the joint is so small, there is no method of external lubrication, like a zerk fitting, the only way to get any lubrication into the needle bearings in the end caps is through penetration. WD-40 will work for short term use, but you will have to re-apply it every couple of days or so. Just remember no matter how much you hose the outside of the joint down, it is only the small amount that manages to penetrate into the end caps that has any effect. If you are going to park it for 10 days, it shouldn't deteriorate much while parked, but keep a can in the vehicle, and spray it before you leave the airport for the ride home.
lightfreak
New member
Just FYI on mine the top collar piece had to be air hammered out, totaling destroying it in the process. It was rusted shut and the bolts weren't reusable either. This part isn't included with the shaft. Just to give an idea of what you might be up against.
Maybe drown it in Deep Creep for 48 hours before attempting removal.
.
Maybe drown it in Deep Creep for 48 hours before attempting removal.
.
TechWrench
Senior Member
fihnguy
New member
Thanks for the replies guys! I greatly appreciate them.
Was wondering if there is something better than WD-40 for the time being. I got one of those Deep Creep cans today as well.
I drove the vehicle in the morning today and it was still fine. In the afternoon, however, it went back to the old tricks with sticky steering
Can't say I care much, as long as it holds up until I come back. Will likely replace the shaft the same day.
Yes, I was thinking about the collar. There is no dealership close to me, so I was debating whether I should get a new one because there are a few dealerships where I am flying. Mine looks like fudge as you can see from the photo above.
Was wondering if there is something better than WD-40 for the time being. I got one of those Deep Creep cans today as well.
I drove the vehicle in the morning today and it was still fine. In the afternoon, however, it went back to the old tricks with sticky steering
Can't say I care much, as long as it holds up until I come back. Will likely replace the shaft the same day.Yes, I was thinking about the collar. There is no dealership close to me, so I was debating whether I should get a new one because there are a few dealerships where I am flying. Mine looks like fudge as you can see from the photo above.
fihnguy
New member
Great video! Thanks again, Bossman.
fihnguy
New member
So I came back yesterday and the 10-day stay at the airport's parking lot did not affect the steering. It actually was much better than on the way there; I hardly noticed any "stickiness".
The shaft only arrived today in the afternoon (took forever) and I got on it around 6-ish PM. The bolts came out much easier than I expected, one can almost say nicely. Glad I did not buy the top clamp (45 CAD at the dealership in Vancouver) or the bolts (something like 4 CAD per at the same dealership). The reason I did not buy the bolts was because they did not have them in stock.
I did not win yet, FIY, but thought I would share some photos and experience so far and ask for suggestions at the same time. Thought the next guy might find this post useful
Here is the list of parts related to this repair in case anyone is looking for them (dealer printout). There are only 5 parts and 3 of them are bolts, which are the same:
So here goes what I have done so far. First thing is first, lift the vehicle up and take off the wheel on the driver's side. The two bolts on the clamp (part # 45219):
12 mm socket with an extension and a ratchet (I used a half-inch ratchet) is all you need at this point. I should mention here, that I prayed these bolts with WD-40 about two weeks ago or so and then again the following day; I also sprayed them with Deep Creep (recommended by Bossman above) about 11 days ago. Can't actually recall if I did anymore praying today before bolt removal.
The next step is the bolt on the bottom:
One obvious thing that maybe useful to note here is when the two upper bolts are facing you, the bottom one will be facing up:
So just turn the steering wheel until the bottom bolt is in the right place to "comfortably" untie it. "Comfortably", even in quotes, is quite an exaggeration. Going from all possible holes and directions, I loosened it up with the same ratchet and 12 mm socket. Can't say for sure now, but I think I won this part by going through the lower control arm (the "hole" or "opening" in it). The second photo in this thread will give you ideas. Once the bolt was loose, I used a ratcheting wrench to finish the job:
Once the bolts were out, I gave the clamp and the bottom of the shaft another round of spray with penetrating fluid. This is where the fun stops and torture begins
The idea is to "hummer" it out off the bottom (rack-and-pinion) first and the top second. I tried different kind of ways and it did not work. I finally borrowed an air chisel from my good old neighbour and it worked somewhat. For what to do with the air chisel, see the Eric the Car Guy video linked right above this post starting at 2:10 into it (you should watch the whole thing if you are doing this job).
When I say "worked somewhat", I mean exactly that. Before the bottom joint started moving at all, the top clamp (#45219) got loose to the point that it was sliding up and down pretty easily. About 15 or so minutes later, the bottom started moving. I was able to get it out about three quarters of an inch and that is it:
I tried many different ways to get it out, but this is where it stopped. I tried putting it fully back on, but was unsuccessful as well. The top clamp is off completely now (I took it out).
Another thing to point out is that, even though it is mentioned in numerous other places to make sure to not "bug" the steering wheel and the pinion because otherwise your steering wheel will be "crooked"... Well, by looking at the whole thing, I do not think you will be able to install it back together any other way than the way it was, given your wheels and steering wheel are relatively straight during the installation. Meaning your steering wheel will remain exactly as it was prior to the job. The way the shaft is notched, it would not let you put it on any other way on either of the ends. If, this is not true, I will comment on it in the next post when I get the f****** thing off
If you are having this problem and replacing the CV shaft, go ahead and do both jobs at the same time. Man, would it be easier if the CV shaft was off.
I will get back at it tomorrow. So far about 2.5 hours put into this job. More than I was planning on, but definitely not a big deal.
If anyone has suggestions on how to proceed next, I welcome everyone of them. Cheers!
The shaft only arrived today in the afternoon (took forever) and I got on it around 6-ish PM. The bolts came out much easier than I expected, one can almost say nicely. Glad I did not buy the top clamp (45 CAD at the dealership in Vancouver) or the bolts (something like 4 CAD per at the same dealership). The reason I did not buy the bolts was because they did not have them in stock.
I did not win yet, FIY, but thought I would share some photos and experience so far and ask for suggestions at the same time. Thought the next guy might find this post useful
Here is the list of parts related to this repair in case anyone is looking for them (dealer printout). There are only 5 parts and 3 of them are bolts, which are the same:
So here goes what I have done so far. First thing is first, lift the vehicle up and take off the wheel on the driver's side. The two bolts on the clamp (part # 45219):
12 mm socket with an extension and a ratchet (I used a half-inch ratchet) is all you need at this point. I should mention here, that I prayed these bolts with WD-40 about two weeks ago or so and then again the following day; I also sprayed them with Deep Creep (recommended by Bossman above) about 11 days ago. Can't actually recall if I did anymore praying today before bolt removal.
The next step is the bolt on the bottom:
One obvious thing that maybe useful to note here is when the two upper bolts are facing you, the bottom one will be facing up:
So just turn the steering wheel until the bottom bolt is in the right place to "comfortably" untie it. "Comfortably", even in quotes, is quite an exaggeration. Going from all possible holes and directions, I loosened it up with the same ratchet and 12 mm socket. Can't say for sure now, but I think I won this part by going through the lower control arm (the "hole" or "opening" in it). The second photo in this thread will give you ideas. Once the bolt was loose, I used a ratcheting wrench to finish the job:
Once the bolts were out, I gave the clamp and the bottom of the shaft another round of spray with penetrating fluid. This is where the fun stops and torture begins
The idea is to "hummer" it out off the bottom (rack-and-pinion) first and the top second. I tried different kind of ways and it did not work. I finally borrowed an air chisel from my good old neighbour and it worked somewhat. For what to do with the air chisel, see the Eric the Car Guy video linked right above this post starting at 2:10 into it (you should watch the whole thing if you are doing this job).
When I say "worked somewhat", I mean exactly that. Before the bottom joint started moving at all, the top clamp (#45219) got loose to the point that it was sliding up and down pretty easily. About 15 or so minutes later, the bottom started moving. I was able to get it out about three quarters of an inch and that is it:
I tried many different ways to get it out, but this is where it stopped. I tried putting it fully back on, but was unsuccessful as well. The top clamp is off completely now (I took it out).
Another thing to point out is that, even though it is mentioned in numerous other places to make sure to not "bug" the steering wheel and the pinion because otherwise your steering wheel will be "crooked"... Well, by looking at the whole thing, I do not think you will be able to install it back together any other way than the way it was, given your wheels and steering wheel are relatively straight during the installation. Meaning your steering wheel will remain exactly as it was prior to the job. The way the shaft is notched, it would not let you put it on any other way on either of the ends. If, this is not true, I will comment on it in the next post when I get the f****** thing off
If you are having this problem and replacing the CV shaft, go ahead and do both jobs at the same time. Man, would it be easier if the CV shaft was off.
I will get back at it tomorrow. So far about 2.5 hours put into this job. More than I was planning on, but definitely not a big deal.
If anyone has suggestions on how to proceed next, I welcome everyone of them. Cheers!
Last edited:
fihnguy
New member
I realized I did not finish what I started in the post above. Since someone may find this info useful, I will wrap it up.
Ok, I did win the next day! First thing I did was to try and get the shaft out with a pry bar the next day. That did not work. I don't think I mentioned in the previous post that I actually soaked the lower joint with penetrating fluid when I gave up on it the day before (can be seen how wet it is in the last photo in the previous post). Trying different things for a few more minutes, I went to the neighbour to borrow his air chisel again and that got the shaft off in no more than a couple of minutes. Here is a pic of the spot where I kept hammering it (same spot as in the Eric the Car Guy's video as mentioned in the post above, though mine shows quite a bit more damage because of how long it took to get it out, not that it really matters):
Here is where the shafts sits at the bottom and where I had a heck of a time getting it off:
I cleaned everything as well as I could and went on to intall the new shaft. While the clamp or yoke, if you like, on top was easily sliding on and off, the bottom part gave me hard time again.
The installation procedure is pretty much the reversal of what has been done so far, aside from the air chisel, lol. So I attached the yoke to the new shaft and slid it back to where it came from (don't think I took any pics of that, but it is pretty straight forward). Then, I set my steering wheel and wheels straight (I will come back to this point later), attached the bottom part of the shaft to where it belongs as well as I could and then I had to tap it in with a pry bar and a hammer since it was refusing to cooperate otherwise. I put my pry bar, about two feet long, through the opening somewhere behind and above the frame where the lower control arm is attached to it:
Once the shaft was back in place, I tightened all 3 bolts to specs,
attached the rubber flap/guard back to where it was and put the wheel back on. I thought I was done, but when I went for the test drive I noticed this (was really hard not to, lol):
That's what my steering wheel looked like when I was driving straight. Which, in turn, makes me come back to this part, as promised:
(top of the shaft)
(bottom of the yoke, which slides onto what's in the photo above)
As it can be clearly seen from the photos above, there is only one way to put those two pieces together. The same is true for the yoke and the upper shaft. Essentially, there is only one way that the two shafts and the yoke can be connected together. I assumed the same to be true for the bottom as well since I saw that the bottom of the shaft is notched in the exact same way as the yoke:
Funny thing is when I inspected the steering gear (or what the shafts connects to at the bottom), it looked like there was a spot with no splines, which seemed to be perfectly lining up with the shaft when wheels and steering wheel were set straight. Therefore, I believed the quote above from my previous post was still true. It obviously was not. The evidence was my "crooked" steering wheel.
It had to be fixed. The fix took about 15 minutes, maybe. I drove up on the ramps, took the rubber flap/guard (I have no idea what it is actually called) and loosened the two bolts on the yoke. I then got under the vehicle and put the ratchet with a 12 mm socket through the same opening I used for the pry bar to tap the shaft in place earlier:
When doing it the first time, I raised the front of the vehicle on the driver's side up and turned the steering wheel as I pleased to my convenience while taking the bottom bolt out. By driving on the ramps instead, I made sure that wheels will actually stay straight. So I took the bottom bolt out and got the shaft off the steering gear. Then I simply set my steering wheel straight and tapped the shaft back in place and tightened all three bolts (I did not use the torque wrench for the bottom bolt this time). The steering wheel was back in place, as it should be.
Back to those splines/no splines on the steering gear. Upon further inspection, after I took the shaft off the gear the second time, I saw that there were splines in that particular spot that seemed to have non and seemed to line up perfectly with everything else. For whatever reason those splines were damaged (don't think I did the damage), so with a quick look at first, given my conviction in the quote above, I assumed that was exactly the case. The lesson here is do not assume but do a thorough check. I don't know if there is any particular reason for not notching the end on steering gear to match the intermediate shaft, but if it was in fact notched, it would definitely make things easier. There probably is a reason and I am not aware of it at this point.
Conclusion: It is a one man job and definitely not that hard. Make sure you spray the bolts, the yoke and the bottom connection to the gear ahead of time, perhaps start spraying a week before. The bottom part is hardest to get disconnected and you should account for that. Doing the work while on ramps will ensure that your wheels are set straight, but you sacrifice a lot of space. Access to an air chisel is definitely a bonus.
Side notes: Ball joint fork or something similar is a good tool to have handy for prying. If the neighbour's air chisel did not work, I would go ahead and take the CV axle out and hammer the shaft out by hand. My guess is I would cut my time by quite a bit if I did just that in the first place. When hammering it out with an air hummer (or anything else, for that matter) with the axle in place, the angle definitely desires better and with the axle off, I am sure it's a matter of just a few minutes getting that sucker off at the bottom.
Concerns: The rubber "boot-like" thing on the steering gear somewhat visible on the last photo in my previous post. How is it affected by WD-40/Deep Creep or other penetrating fluids?
I think this is pretty much it. Here are a couple of pics I apparently took for working on the bottom bolt from the wheel side (not sure if they are useful, but it turns out I took them, so I will just through them in):
Ta ta and hope this helps a guy/gal or two
Ok, I did win the next day! First thing I did was to try and get the shaft out with a pry bar the next day. That did not work. I don't think I mentioned in the previous post that I actually soaked the lower joint with penetrating fluid when I gave up on it the day before (can be seen how wet it is in the last photo in the previous post). Trying different things for a few more minutes, I went to the neighbour to borrow his air chisel again and that got the shaft off in no more than a couple of minutes. Here is a pic of the spot where I kept hammering it (same spot as in the Eric the Car Guy's video as mentioned in the post above, though mine shows quite a bit more damage because of how long it took to get it out, not that it really matters):
Here is where the shafts sits at the bottom and where I had a heck of a time getting it off:
I cleaned everything as well as I could and went on to intall the new shaft. While the clamp or yoke, if you like, on top was easily sliding on and off, the bottom part gave me hard time again.
The installation procedure is pretty much the reversal of what has been done so far, aside from the air chisel, lol. So I attached the yoke to the new shaft and slid it back to where it came from (don't think I took any pics of that, but it is pretty straight forward). Then, I set my steering wheel and wheels straight (I will come back to this point later), attached the bottom part of the shaft to where it belongs as well as I could and then I had to tap it in with a pry bar and a hammer since it was refusing to cooperate otherwise. I put my pry bar, about two feet long, through the opening somewhere behind and above the frame where the lower control arm is attached to it:
Once the shaft was back in place, I tightened all 3 bolts to specs,
attached the rubber flap/guard back to where it was and put the wheel back on. I thought I was done, but when I went for the test drive I noticed this (was really hard not to, lol):
That's what my steering wheel looked like when I was driving straight. Which, in turn, makes me come back to this part, as promised:
When I was looking at all the notches on the shaft, the yoke and the intermediate shaft #1 (what it attaches to on top via the yoke), it all looked like there is no other way to assemble it but the right way:Another thing to point out is that, even though it is mentioned in numerous other places to make sure to not "bug" the steering wheel and the pinion because otherwise your steering wheel will be "crooked"... Well, by looking at the whole thing, I do not think you will be able to install it back together any other way than the way it was, given your wheels and steering wheel are relatively straight during the installation. Meaning your steering wheel will remain exactly as it was prior to the job. The way the shaft is notched, it would not let you put it on any other way on either of the ends. If, this is not true, I will comment on it in the next post when I get the f****** thing off
(top of the shaft)
(bottom of the yoke, which slides onto what's in the photo above)
As it can be clearly seen from the photos above, there is only one way to put those two pieces together. The same is true for the yoke and the upper shaft. Essentially, there is only one way that the two shafts and the yoke can be connected together. I assumed the same to be true for the bottom as well since I saw that the bottom of the shaft is notched in the exact same way as the yoke:
Funny thing is when I inspected the steering gear (or what the shafts connects to at the bottom), it looked like there was a spot with no splines, which seemed to be perfectly lining up with the shaft when wheels and steering wheel were set straight. Therefore, I believed the quote above from my previous post was still true. It obviously was not. The evidence was my "crooked" steering wheel.
It had to be fixed. The fix took about 15 minutes, maybe. I drove up on the ramps, took the rubber flap/guard (I have no idea what it is actually called) and loosened the two bolts on the yoke. I then got under the vehicle and put the ratchet with a 12 mm socket through the same opening I used for the pry bar to tap the shaft in place earlier:
When doing it the first time, I raised the front of the vehicle on the driver's side up and turned the steering wheel as I pleased to my convenience while taking the bottom bolt out. By driving on the ramps instead, I made sure that wheels will actually stay straight. So I took the bottom bolt out and got the shaft off the steering gear. Then I simply set my steering wheel straight and tapped the shaft back in place and tightened all three bolts (I did not use the torque wrench for the bottom bolt this time). The steering wheel was back in place, as it should be.
Back to those splines/no splines on the steering gear. Upon further inspection, after I took the shaft off the gear the second time, I saw that there were splines in that particular spot that seemed to have non and seemed to line up perfectly with everything else. For whatever reason those splines were damaged (don't think I did the damage), so with a quick look at first, given my conviction in the quote above, I assumed that was exactly the case. The lesson here is do not assume but do a thorough check. I don't know if there is any particular reason for not notching the end on steering gear to match the intermediate shaft, but if it was in fact notched, it would definitely make things easier. There probably is a reason and I am not aware of it at this point.
Conclusion: It is a one man job and definitely not that hard. Make sure you spray the bolts, the yoke and the bottom connection to the gear ahead of time, perhaps start spraying a week before. The bottom part is hardest to get disconnected and you should account for that. Doing the work while on ramps will ensure that your wheels are set straight, but you sacrifice a lot of space. Access to an air chisel is definitely a bonus.
Side notes: Ball joint fork or something similar is a good tool to have handy for prying. If the neighbour's air chisel did not work, I would go ahead and take the CV axle out and hammer the shaft out by hand. My guess is I would cut my time by quite a bit if I did just that in the first place. When hammering it out with an air hummer (or anything else, for that matter) with the axle in place, the angle definitely desires better and with the axle off, I am sure it's a matter of just a few minutes getting that sucker off at the bottom.
Concerns: The rubber "boot-like" thing on the steering gear somewhat visible on the last photo in my previous post. How is it affected by WD-40/Deep Creep or other penetrating fluids?
I think this is pretty much it. Here are a couple of pics I apparently took for working on the bottom bolt from the wheel side (not sure if they are useful, but it turns out I took them, so I will just through them in):
Ta ta and hope this helps a guy/gal or two
Boxermachine
Member
Got a replacement on ebay for $50, figured I'd give it a shot. The bolts came out with a little effort, however, I could not get the shaft off the lower spline. Air chisel, heat, lube, 6 hours of banging on it and I threw in the towel. I put it back together and a local shop charged $106 to change it. 3 different mechanics tried, and the last covered everything up with a wet wool blanket and torched it off. What a bastard.
AuSeeker
Elite Member
Glad you got her back together :guitar3: , now you know why I mentioned how hard it was going to be to get the old shaft out and why it has to go back together just right, i.e.crooked steering wheel.
All and All you did a great job of it and this topic will help others in the future!!
I realized I did not finish what I started in the post above. Since someone may find this info useful, I will wrap it up.
Ok, I did win the next day! First thing I did was to try and get the shaft out with a pry bar the next day. That did not work. I don't think I mentioned in the previous post that I actually soaked the lower joint with penetrating fluid when I gave up on it the day before (can be seen how wet it is in the last photo in the previous post). Trying different things for a few more minutes, I went to the neighbour to borrow his air chisel again and that got the shaft off in no more than a couple of minutes. Here is a pic of the spot where I kept hammering it (same spot as in the Eric the Car Guy's video as mentioned in the post above, though mine shows quite a bit more damage because of how long it took to get it out, not that it really matters):
Here is where the shafts sits at the bottom and where I had a heck of a time getting it off:
I cleaned everything as well as I could and went on to intall the new shaft. While the clamp or yoke, if you like, on top was easily sliding on and off, the bottom part gave me hard time again.
The installation procedure is pretty much the reversal of what has been done so far, aside from the air chisel, lol. So I attached the yoke to the new shaft and slid it back to where it came from (don't think I took any pics of that, but it is pretty straight forward). Then, I set my steering wheel and wheels straight (I will come back to this point later), attached the bottom part of the shaft to where it belongs as well as I could and then I had to tap it in with a pry bar and a hammer since it was refusing to cooperate otherwise. I put my pry bar, about two feet long, through the opening somewhere behind and above the frame where the lower control arm is attached to it:
Once the shaft was back in place, I tightened all 3 bolts to specs,
attached the rubber flap/guard back to where it was and put the wheel back on. I thought I was done, but when I went for the test drive I noticed this (was really hard not to, lol):
That's what my steering wheel looked like when I was driving straight. Which, in turn, makes me come back to this part, as promised:
When I was looking at all the notches on the shaft, the yoke and the intermediate shaft #1 (what it attaches to on top via the yoke), it all looked like there is no other way to assemble it but the right way:
As it can be clearly seen from the photos above, there is only one way to put those two pieces together. The same is true for the yoke and the upper shaft. Essentially, there is only one way that the two shafts and the yoke can be connected together. I assumed the same to be true for the bottom as well since I saw that the bottom of the shaft is notched in the exact same way as the yoke:
Funny thing is when I inspected the steering gear (or what the shafts connects to at the bottom), it looked like there was a spot with no splines, which seemed to be perfectly lining up with the shaft when wheels and steering wheel were set straight. Therefore, I believed the quote above from my previous post was still true. It obviously was not. The evidence was my "crooked" steering wheel.
It had to be fixed. The fix took about 15 minutes, maybe. I drove up on the ramps, took the rubber flap/guard (I have no idea what it is actually called) and loosened the two bolts on the yoke. I then got under the vehicle and put the ratchet with a 12 mm socket through the same opening I used for the pry bar to tap the shaft in place earlier:
When doing it the first time, I raised the front of the vehicle on the driver's side up and turned the steering wheel as I pleased to my convenience while taking the bottom bolt out. By driving on the ramps instead, I made sure that wheels will actually stay straight. So I took the bottom bolt out and got the shaft off the steering gear. Then I simply set my steering wheel straight and tapped the shaft back in place and tightened all three bolts (I did not use the torque wrench for the bottom bolt this time). The steering wheel was back in place, as it should be.
Back to those splines/no splines on the steering gear. Upon further inspection, after I took the shaft off the gear the second time, I saw that there were splines in that particular spot that seemed to have non and seemed to line up perfectly with everything else. For whatever reason those splines were damaged (don't think I did the damage), so with a quick look at first, given my conviction in the quote above, I assumed that was exactly the case. The lesson here is do not assume but do a thorough check. I don't know if there is any particular reason for not notching the end on steering gear to match the intermediate shaft, but if it was in fact notched, it would definitely make things easier. There probably is a reason and I am not aware of it at this point.
Conclusion: It is a one man job and definitely not that hard. Make sure you spray the bolts, the yoke and the bottom connection to the gear ahead of time, perhaps start spraying a week before. The bottom part is hardest to get disconnected and you should account for that. Doing the work while on ramps will ensure that your wheels are set straight, but you sacrifice a lot of space. Access to an air chisel is definitely a bonus.
Side notes: Ball joint fork or something similar is a good tool to have handy for prying. If the neighbour's air chisel did not work, I would go ahead and take the CV axle out and hammer the shaft out by hand. My guess is I would cut my time by quite a bit if I did just that in the first place. When hammering it out with an air hummer (or anything else, for that matter) with the axle in place, the angle definitely desires better and with the axle off, I am sure it's a matter of just a few minutes getting that sucker off at the bottom.
Concerns: The rubber "boot-like" thing on the steering gear somewhat visible on the last photo in my previous post. How is it affected by WD-40/Deep Creep or other penetrating fluids?
I think this is pretty much it. Here are a couple of pics I apparently took for working on the bottom bolt from the wheel side (not sure if they are useful, but it turns out I took them, so I will just through them in):
Ta ta and hope this helps a guy/gal or two
fihnguy
New member
I hope it will help someone else, rather than discourage them from doing this job on their own, lol. It is not that easy crawling under there taking photos.
Yes, those splines have to be spot on. I would bet I was off by no more than two splines and the steering wheel was quite off. The wheels also appeared to be pointing straight when I connected it all back together. Not straight enough, I guess. It really is beyond me why they would not notch the gear in the same way they notch the upper shaft. But, like I already said, there could be a reason and I am simply not aware of it.
I really think that in cases like yours (and mine, for that matter) it is easier to take the axle out and the problem would be solved. That way, one can hammer right at the shaft at almost perfect angle and it would come right out. If I recall correctly, the axle is the only thing that is on the way. And it is not really all that hard to get the axle out and put it back in. It should not add more than 30 minutes of work if one has the right tools (and bolts cooperate) and it would potentially save hours. I did not time it, but I probably spent close to 4 hours on this job in total.
