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Has anyone ever swapped a defective "steering column head bearing" ?



For searching for the cause of the ruttling on my 1.6 I visited some mechanics now.
One said that should come from the strut mounts, another said the left inner tie rod end is faulty.
Today another said the LCA bushings are worn (hmm, don´t think so ) but worse, that bearing might cause the trouble and strongly recommended not to drive any longer that way.

So I checked all my other neons and yes, that bearing on the 1.6 is really loose if I jiggle the steering wheel (like you do on the tyre when checking the wheelbearing).

I wonder if that might happen when a neon crashes or after lot´s of miles ?

Here the results of my little testing:

2000 LE 150.000 km, no acc., bearing tight like 100%
2000 LE 67.000 km, heavy front crash, bearing loose 60%
2000 LE 125.000 km, heavy front crash, bearing loose 60%
2000 LX 200.000 km, no acc., loose 75%
2001 R/T 90.000 miles, light front crash, tight 95%
2002 1.6 129.000 km, light front crash, loose 35%
2004 SXT 42.000 miles, middle front crash, 95% tight
2004 SRT, 90.000 miles, no acc (hopefully ), 100% tight

Try loosening the pinch bolt at the bottom of the column. all 4 wheels on level ground, tilt all the way up, if equipped. My '01 was loose ever since I bought it, just figured it was what it was.

After replacing the steering gear, and doing the adjustment procedure for re attaching the column to the steering gear, there is no more clunking.


Edit: Mopar does not sell the bearing, they only sell a complete column assy. You would have to pull the bearing and try to match it by numbers, or dimensions.

great, thanks. I´ll look for it as soon as it will be warmer outside

Next step is to check the front swaybar and the bushings for it.

The pinch bolt is inside the car, just for reference...

Aha, now I see Took a look into the service manual...

That makes it easier to check that.

Anyway I´ll follow the suggestion of a friend who suspected the swaybar bushings for the rumbling noise.
Have to measure the swaybar itself as I´m not sure wether it is about 19mm or 22mm on the 1.6

Yeah, my steering wheel never really made too much noise, it was just when you had to make quick parking maneuvers that it would clunk around in the column. Otherwise, you wouldn't know there was an issue.

Yeah, anyhow like mine. So I never recognized it until the guy told me.
And working on the pinch bolt fixed it for you?
I hope, for me, too.
Anyway I have enough neons to try

Gnuserup wrote:.
And working on the pinch bolt fixed it for you?

Yep!

Unfortunatelly it really is a worn bearing

http://youtu.be/dMyMf4T7EuI

http://youtu.be/ANxbceJQ1KQ

I removed the steering wheel on a donor today and voila
On the 1.6 it is worse

Will see, if I find a way to get that bearing out for measuring in any way. If nothing else helps, I´ll cut that column into pieces, doesn´t matter for now.



cm/mm


mm


inch


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Believe it or not, that is exactly how my steering wheel used to be.

You kept it and are still riding this way?

Or do you mean, working on the pinch bolt finally fixed it?

My loose column has a bearing, which feels like new ( the one where the pictures are from).

Probably I should remove the steering wheel on the 1.6 and on the SRT to compare.

Adjusting the pinch bolt made the slop go away. It seems normal now.

You're lucky

Surely I'll try it before going on with all the other things, which are harder to do.

But on the other hand - if the bearings and the steering hub on the loose spare column are absolutely tight, I fear, the problem on the other will be and stay the bearing.

We'll see

6805RS looks like it should fit ...

37 x 25 x 7 mm







Will have to cut an old one out next time to proof that

Maybe when I take my '01 apart in the spring, (If it ever gets here) I'll dig into that column.

yes, do that. Would be interesting, how yours is. How many miles do you have on the clock ?

Today I swapped the front swaybar bushings and retorqued the endlinks.
Keep fingers crossed - the rumbling is nearly gone. Will finally make that sure on my usual way to work next week. There are some streets where up to now I thought, the car will brake into pieces

Gnuserup wrote:yes, do that. Would be interesting, how yours is. How many miles do you have on the clock ?

Break.

I have ~207,000 miles/333,000 km now.

Wow, that's a lot

For me the work seems to have been successful.
Not that annoying noise anymore.
There is just a little from anywhere outside when driving on really hard roads and... definitely on bad cobblestone the steering wheel (upper bearing inside).