PorscheDoc

I have been suffering from sloppy steering for quite some time now, there was not only a big shake in the steering wheel, but also the wheel would go side to side about an inch before the tires would start turning. Figured it was the steering shaft, and found them on paragon and pelican, etc for 200-300 bucks! Ian at 944online has them for 50 bucks, so i ordered one online and put it in. The old shaft had a lot of side to side play in the u joints when i got it out, the new shaft has none, so it was clearly shot. I was wondering if they were rebuilt or something because of the cheap price, but they came with a porsche part number sticker on them, so i imagine they are new. Anyways it took care of the problem and only took a couple hours to install. For anyone with sloppy steering, i would grab one of these from Ian while the price lasts.

To install, i removed my intake (have a powdercoated one to install, so killing a couple birds with the same stone all at once), remove the brake booster heat shield, remove the 4 mounting bolts that hold the rack to the crossmember, and then you can remove the shaft from there. By dropping the rack out of the mounting holes, it gives you the extra inch you need to get the shaft off the rack. You don't have to completely remove the rack or anything.

tifosiman

Wow, $50 for a new power intermediate shaft from Ians? Thanks for the tip.

FYI, for those of you with manual racks, the end u-joints are the same on the power rack as on the manual rack. If you have a buddy in the machine shop, you can have him press the ends of the power shaft off and replace the worn out ones on the (longer) manual shaft for you with them. Considering new manual shafts are hovering somewhere around the $350 range, this is perfect.

Thanks again Karl!

KLR

Whoa. How does one test to see if it needs replacement? My 951 feels pretty tight, but I've never been particularly impressed with the directness of the steering. Did you have a noticeable amount of slop when the car was shut off (i.e., could clearly shake the steering wheel back and forth x" without encountering tension on the wheel when the car was off)?

The only car that I ever had with a very noticeable amount of slop was my 1977 Mercedes 300D. It probably had 1-2" of slop before the wheels would start to turn, and it was very obvious and disconcerting. Of course, that car was so damn slow that it wasn't too worrying. I ended up getting rid of the car before I ever dealt with the issue.

PorscheDoc

Yes, i could move the steering wheel about an inch back and forth and the tires would not turn at all.

dmp

Hi Karl,
I have 85.5 944 n.a with exactly the same problem... would you mind giving me the part # from 944online so that I can order the correct part?
thanks...

Andre

yea i dont see it on 944online

PorscheDoc

Uh, go to his online ordering, pick your model year car, go to suspension and steering, and pick steering shaft. $47.28 is the cost.