How to fabricate steering column bushings in under an hour.
The ID of the VW Beetle steering column tube is 1.5 inches and the column shaft OD is 20mm or approx. 7/8 inch.
>I bought two 1-1/2 black hard rubber caster wheels for $8.00 to use as the column shaft bushings.
>Remove the column shaft from the column tube and pull out the inner race housing you won't need this.
>Remove the axle from the caster ....this is a long rivet that I grind the head off of being careful not to heat it up too much,
it can melt the rubber wheel.
>Drag the surface of the rubber wheel across 80 grit sand paper to remove the high center area , this will quickly reduce it
to the needed 7/8" OD.
>I use a stepped universal drill bit to bore out the wheel center, the widest point on the tapered bit happens to be the 7/8" .
>Tap the rubber bushings into each end of the column tube until flush and secure it in place with two small 5/16th screws
into each bushing.
>Re-drill the ID of the bushing to the 7/8" again as it will be reduced slightly when installed in the column tube .
>Add a little grease on the column shaft and feed it though the tube housing checking for free rotation.
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