broken steering column !

[datsun240z]

Hi there !

my 80 year old father had a small accident in his garage while bringing in his S3 tvr.
No one hurted and not too much damage, the bonnet was damaged, and the steering broke! It was the triangular tube that broke, at the end just where it enters the steering joint.

Not sure if this a steering column from a sierra mk 1 or an Escort?

I took to entire column apart, and was wondering if I could maybe reuse the broken triangular tube in a 'shortened' version (2 cm less), as it is a telescopic tube, does 2 cm less change anything? If not a good idea, where to get such a triangular tube ??

what do you think ?

thanks!

cheers
Greg from Belgium

[GreenV8S]

I've no thoughts about the repair, but glad to hear the old chap is unhurt.

[phillpot]

datsun240z said:

Not sure if this a steering column from a sierra mk 1 or an Escort?

Yes, it from a Sierra. I have one here in UK but getting parts to mainland Europe is expensive and complicated these days.

I would not recommend using it now it is shorter although a competent welder could probably repair it then turn it around so the repaired end is inside.

[RochdaleGT]

the crack looks fresh and the material gauge looks quite sturdy..so my first question would be why it broke?

usually you can see on the cracked area if the damage was happending over time, starting with a small crack and after time it broke completely. the area in that case would be rusty.

in your case the fresh cracked area looks shiny. material-fatigue is uncommon here.

[GreenV8S]

RochdaleGT said:

my first question would be why it broke?

The OP mentioned a small accident.

[phillpot]

Have you fixed it?