The weather hasn’t been warm or dry enough for me to want to work outside. Since I’m still anxious to keep the project moving forward, I looked for more parts I can prepare for installation while working inside. One item I could start on is partially assembling the steering shaft.

The steering shaft in this kit consists of two D shaped steel tubes. One is solid and one is hollow. It is designed so that the solid tube can slide inside the hollow tube. Each tube has a matching adapter with a D shape at one end and a splined opening at the other end. One adapter has splines to match the steering box. The other adapter has splines to match up with the EPAS motor. Both adapters are held in place using set screws at each end.

I decided to install the adapters on the ends of their corresponding steering shaft. The install was easy enough, as the adapters are a simple press fit on their respective shafts. I used blue Loctite to make sure that the set screws don’t come loose over time. I also test fitted the splined ends on the steering box and EPAS motor just to make sure I had the correct parts. Everything went together without a hitch.

Here is a picture of the two parts of the steering shaft with the adapters installed and the set screws held in place using Loctite. The shaft on the left is the hollow shaft and uses the adapter that mates up with the steering box. The shaft on the right is the solid shaft. One end slides into the hollow shaft, and the other end has the adapter that mates up with the EPAS motor.

I realize this wasn’t a big accomplishment, but it is one less thing I need to prepare as soon as I can do more work outside.