Steering column cover

[1000wannabe]

Hey Guys,

I'm just looking for some input on my steering column.
The car is a late series 2 that has had many owner added improvements over the years including an aftermarket column mounted indicator stalk.
I'm trying to establish if what you see here is an actual column cover, or whether there should/would have been a plastic cover over it.
It's pretty crappy looking and at the least I'll paint it black to try and hide it a bit, but if there's a cover, I'd rather use that..

Cheers
Chris

[geoberni]

That is not a standard SII arrangement. That's all part of the cover.
Here's my '55 SII.

20230501_095007.jpg (1.08 MiB) Viewed 322 times

Basically what you have is that entire dirty grey sleeve has somehow been fixed to the Column Bracket to enable the Stalk to be fitted.
I've never seen that before.

It will also serve another purpose, keeping the rubber in place. I had my Rubber Support work it's way out a few years ago...

20191229_173059.jpg (431.19 KiB) Viewed 322 times

[mike1864]

Mine (early 1956) is the same as geoberni's photo.
As I understand it, the black rubber ring (basically anti-vibration?) sits hard in the bracket and firmly grips the brass bush. The bush's inner face is the bearing surface in which the column turns. ie the column should be the only component that turns.
A few years back my brass bush corroded (un-noticed) onto the shaft, meaning that the sliding surface became the interface between the outer of the brass ring and the inside face of the rubber bush. The rubber did not put up with this unintended role for long, and rapidly graunched itself, making the steering alternately stiff, sloppy and loose.
So while you are around this assembly, I'd check yours for any such seizure.

[Chief]

(basically anti-vibration?)

On the '63 cars it's a piece of plastic so I think it's just there to make it turn smoother through the bracket.

[geoberni]

(basically anti-vibration?)

On the '63 cars it's a piece of plastic so I think it's just there to make it turn smoother through the bracket.

Mine was a very similar experience to MIke,
The rubber sleeve holds the metal bush that is the 'bearing'; when I got my car, I thought the steering was a little heavy, not knowing any different. Then when it popped out, I posted about it on here and learned that the metal bush wasn't supposed to grip the column... Mine was gunked up with crud and turning in the rubber.
Once I freed it, the steering was fine.

This illustration is from the Light Commercial Parts book,
6 = Metal Bush
5 = Rubber Sleeve

Oddly, there are 2 different Brackets, 3 & 4, no obvious difference in the illustration, but the GPO vehicles had a different one from everything else.. .

Steering Rubber.JPG (11.38 KiB) Viewed 226 times

[mike1864]

With mine, I had to saw off the brass bush, clean up the column and fit a new bush.
ESM don't seem to supply this item, but I found one from Simply Bearings.
Perhaps it's worth putting a tiny amount of lubricant into this interface; not so much for lubrication (hardly a high speed/force assembly!), as anti-corrosion.