I started getting road noise a few weeks ago. I eyeballed some daylight through the firewall. I just picked up the part today. Steering shaft gasket pic. I was hoping to deal with this tomorrow. Are there any horrors involved, or is this straight up stuff? Any tips?

Rich

its not hard to install, its just hard to align the splines so the steering wheel is straight...

Jake,

Is there a *best* method of doing the procedure. I've never had a reason, up to this point, to take any of the steering column cowling out to to see if I only need to disconnect the shaft internally. I'm sure I could figure it out. Still, if there're pitfalls or unecessary steps to avoid, I wouldn't mind knowing. Same for shortcuts, if any. I've wrenched enough stuff in the past to only find out later that there was a less labor intensive way of doing it. Haven't we all? Any clues? I don't have a FSM yet. I got something off eBay(CD-ROM) that the seller inferred was such, but it's a bit skelatal and not as specific as I'd hoped.

Rich

I need to replace mine too this week. A little tutorial from someone who has done it would be helpful.

I know you bought the gasket already, but if you want it return it to try this free alternative?

When I did the body lift on my current T, the instruction on the body lift indicated that I need to drill a new hole for the gasket about a inch lower on the firewall (firewall had to be notched an inch lower). After looking at it, it was easier to just toss it and not have a gasket there. After driving the truck w/o the gasket, you can definitely feel the warm air from the engine (or cold air in the morning), and it's much noisier.

The following week, after studying the hole I created (larger than prior as the shaft sits about an inch lower), I decided to look around the garage and found a foam pad from my kid's BMX bike handlebar(my original thought was to use one of those water noodles for the swimming pool...find at Walmart or toystore...similar material). The foam pad is sturdier (heavier density) than the foam that is used for hot water plumbing, but soft enough to just tug it in through the hole. So I basiclaly just wrap it around the shaft from the inside, and squeeze it in through the hole so 1/2 is on the other side of the firewall. I then tape up the foam on both sides. It seem to work great as it seals the hole, and there is no bind while turning.

I know this is not a permanent fix, but I have not had any issue with this for the past 4 months, and it was cheap, free, and took just a few minutes.

I just cut the sidewall off of an old tire and made my own gasket. I cut a circle with a hole in it, sliced an opening and just slid it on then screwed it down. It works great.

the steering wheel is a bit top heavy so it will rotate as soon as your unbolt it...ive never tried this but you could probably tape the steering wheel to the dash to make it stationary, also do this with the steering locked, my experience has been to unbolt the shaft from the rag joint and pull it out after unbolting/marking the splines at the steering wheel.

I just took a look at my steering gasket this afternoon out of curiosity. It was completely rotted away, too. Didn't want to run to the dealer fer a new gasket so I unbolted the gasket and cleaned up the remaining bits of rubber leftover and rebolted it back in place.

I found some scrap 1/2" soft foam pipe wrap with the self adhesive (about $5 fer a new 8' section). Cut off about 3" and put it around the shaft. Stuck the sticky stuff together, slid/tugged it through the old gasket, and it fit perfect! Put the insulating floor cover over it and now I can hear all the other noises that I didn't hear before...just without the engine masking them! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Not bad fer a cheap/kinda free fix... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />