[Vwdiesel] Steering wheel shaft bearing

[Roger Brown]

Erik Lane wrote:
> On my 1981 jetta I am having a problem with the bearing at the bottom
> end of the steering wheel shaft, near the universal joint. What is it
> that is supposed to keep that bearing up inside the sleeve? It just
> won't stay up there and I don't feel like getting too violent with it
> to seat it up further quite yet.

It is a friction fit initially, until the plastic sleeve deteriorates and falls apart. 
You can get a new bearing, pull the steering column apart and press in the new bearing. 
Or what I found that works well so far is to take an o-ring the size of the shaft, cut it 
so it can slip over the shaft and shove it up behind the bearing (some grease in there 
helps with lubrication.  Then take a steel band type hose clamp and put it onto the bottom 
end of the shaft and tighten.  Be sure to get a clamp where the screw part is flush to the 
sides of the band so it'll fit up tight to the bottom of the column.

-- 

   Roger