Beta intermediate steering shaft with bearing

[jadefarms]

Has anyone a Beta saloon intermediate steering shaft with bearing that they could part with? My donor car does not have the right bit.
Struan :)

[strat6v]

struan, are the splines the correct size at each end? If so just cut it to the correct length and have it tig welded. You may find that no intermediate shaft suits ;) If you are tall (6'0" plus, then you may want to angle your steering column. Have a look in my gallery for some pics.

[guy mayers]

I have a variety of spare intermediate shafts but they are all different lengths! If you let me know the overall length I'll see if I've got something that will do!
Guy

[John]

Welding of steering shafts
You will need a co-operative welder. I have recently been trying to get a more satisfactory intermediate shaft for the Corse kits made up. Welding shops are becoming increasingly reluctant to carry out this kind of work because of potential comebacks in the event of failure. I believe Frank Williams and Patrick head had some kind of similar difficulty a few years back.
Does anyone have any SVA experience of using a welded shaft?
I know Micks went through no problem.
I have agreed with the welding shop that I will fit roll pins through both ends of the shaft into the sleeve which we are using to extend the shaft to the correct length, so that there is a mechanical fix in the event of weld failure.
A one piece shaft with the correct spline at each end is no doubt the correct way to go, but not all that cost effective for small production quantities.
Anyone any experience or thoughts on this?

[strat6v]

The beta shaft end is inserted into the uj then welded as standard. all i did was carefully grind off the old weld, push out the stub that was left in the uj, slip a snug fitting rod end bearing onto the shaft, slide it down then refit the uj in the standard beta manor. the shaft was tig welded proffesionally, not by myself, know what you are saying though ;)

i wouldn't want to split a shaft in the middle and sleeve it though?

[BAS]

I cut sleeved pinned and tig welded my shaft (go on Chris R, I know what your thinking :eek: ;) ) as i didn't want to over heat the uj. I made sure that the cross sectional area of the sleeve was the same as the orginal shaft. I can't see it being problem. I think I had to extend it a bit as well.

[strat6v]

If you have two donor shafts then you can dismantle the bearings and seals and make one good one up from the pair.

[jadefarms]

Many thanks everyone, I have made the silly mistake of following the manual too closely. I see from John's pic that I have the right part. It just looks nothing like the picture in the manual! The bearing referred to, is presumably the aluminium split bush that Gerry supplies. Mine will need boring out to accept the shaft.
I will assemble up in due course, to see if any length adjustment is needed.
Struan :o

[strat6v]

Set it up for yourself so you are comfy then sort the inter shaft to suit ;)

[pimms]

I changed my intermidiate shaft, because i have a LHD i do not need the bearing bit. The shaft goos from the column uj straight to the Herals uj.
I bought the Herald uj upgrade to exchange with the Hawk uj then fitted the Hawk shaft to the X 1/9 shaft via a bush (?? :o ) that i made on a lathe.
All it needs is carefully tig welding, by a professional and fit it. This saves an exstra uj :)

[John]

Pim,
that looks exactly like the solution we are trying for the Corse.
For SVA, I would reccommend that you fit two roll pins through the bush and shaft too, just in case of any weld failure.

[pimms]

Pim,
that looks exactly like the solution we are trying for the Corse.
For SVA, I would reccommend that you fit two roll pins through the bush and shaft too, just in case of any weld failure.


Thanks for the advise John, will do so :)

[Chris J]

This saves an exstra uj :)

and gives you a more authentic steering wheel rake?

[strat6v]

Puts your toes next to the shaft though?

[pimms]

Puts your toes next to the shaft though?

They go just underneath John. ;)