Installing Hooker headers. The passenger side is in. The driver side requires steering shaft removal. The bolt running through it is out, and the shaft sticking out of the firewall will move about 1/2" tops rearward into the firewall. But the u-joint assembly wont budge forward. Is there any tips to get that off? Any tips would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Tap the bottom of the shaft upwards. I don't think you'll have much luck moving it he other way.

 

The shaft that goes into the firewall will only slide backwards 1/2"- period. The u-joint coupling wont go towards the front. What am I missing?

 

Hit it again. lol!

Nah....seriously....I haven't had much trouble getting it to come off. Just took the top bolt out, loosened the bottom, and a couple of smacks to the bottom side of the universal and it was off.

Now, getting it back on can be a pain sometimes.

Do you have the wheels straight forward?

 

wheels straight forward. I'm getting pissed.

 

Don't know if you can see it in the pic or not but........you should be able to see where the slip joint left a mark on the shaft. That's about how far it has to go up. You might try some lube on it to make it easier.


Not sure if you did or not......but you gotta take the bolt the whole way out to get it to slide far enough.

 

Sorry your having problems, Jason & I have removed the steering shaft countless times with ease.

 

i take both bolts completely out and bang around on it and push up from under and pull up from top until it comes out...

Also... turn the ignition to unlock the steering wheel, make sure theres no bind

 

u should just loosen the motor mount and lift the engine a lil bit, thats what i did when i did my headers!!!

 

Ok, I'm having problems getting my steering shaft back in, what is the correct way to get it back on?

 

my steering shaft is probably 1/8 of an inch from the headers. It was a pain to put back on. Have fun.

 

did you do the top or bottom first?

 

started from the bottom, then got the top in.

 

I'm not trying to be a smart ***, but did you try putting the header up without removing the shaft?

 

to answer that question for him, I tryed that and it didn't work I removed the shaft and the little fixture next to the oil the filter (that has two bolts in it) and then it went in with ease....good luck putting the shaft back in......that is what made me frustrated

 

nope, the shaft needed to come out. It had been rubbing on the header so it needed some rust removal and paint. The rubbing has been clearanced now, I got the shaft back in this morning.

Top first, then bottom, just a change in help made a big difference.

 

I had the same problem putting my pacesetters in. I had to pry apart the ends(bottom and top) that gave me just enough space to get the thing on. I put the top on first, slid it all the way back on the shaft. Then i put the bottom on. The bottom one was the bitch for me. Just take your time, drink a beer and chill out.

 

I'll tell you what not to do..... I just installed Jet Hot LT on my 02 SS A4..... getting the son of a bitch into the the drivers side was like a trip to hell and back.... having said that, yes I had to loosen my steering linkage also.... actually wound up removing the whole assembly which proved to be a mistake as when reassembling, I got the "U" joint assembly at the top turned around backwards and when I went to install the top thru bolt... I wound up stripping the threads on the top "knuckle" and had to replace the assembly