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Old March 13th, 2021, 05:12 PM
biscaynebirdie biscaynebirdie is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Santa Rosa, California
Truck: 1965 1000 Series with 250 engine and SM420 transmission
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Default Upper steering bearing keeps breaking

I have a '65 1000. For the past two months, I've been working on rebuilding the steering column. I ordered a 1963 Chevrolet truck turn signal switch and it works perfectly. However, the bearings keep breaking! I believe that the included spring that fits between the bearing and the steering wheel simply provides too much pressure, resulting in failure.

When I installed the first bearing, I used the retaining ring and spring just as they are. This resulted in the top of the bearing snapping and releasing the ball bearings. It wasn't very fun cleaning up that mess...

I installed the second bearing and cut the spring in half to reduce some of the pressure. No dice. This one also seems to have broken, albeit not entirely as it is still functional. I had to pull broken pieces of a metal ring out from between the ball bearings. It now has a slight creak to it now when turning the wheel quickly, so I have now ordered a third bearing as I don't want to risk complete failure if I am on a drive far away from home. It just isn't safe.

So, I am now down about $100 on these bearings. I think my best bet is to find a spring that matches the dimensions of the one included with these bearings, but that isn't quite as hard. The spring has to be in place or else the steering shaft and bearing have a lot of play. Has anyone else had a similar issue? Thoughts?
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