How to fix the Triton steering column!

[SinWolf]

How to fix the Triton steering column

Ok, so another forum member (thank you 4x4Freak) managed to get hold of his old steering column, which was replaced under maintenance plan. I had the column picked up in Cape Town, and brought through to Pretoria for me to inspect.



The Column I received.


At first, I could not find anything wrong with the column... All bearings and bushes on the shaft seem to be in perfect condition... And then, I tried something else...



The 4 circles marked in red, is the mounting points for the column inside the vehicle.


I grabbed hold of the one funny looking mounting with a vice-grip, and found this mounting to be loose...





I then discovered, that both these funny mountings are not solid...

Ok, so to fix the steering column, you just need to secure these mountings, but here’s the catch! Fixing this could be life threatening in the event of a head-on vehicle accident... Yes, by fixing this could perhaps kill you... WHY ????

Let me explain....

Let’s start by having a closer look at these funny mountings.


This mounting (as seen in photo)....





.....Slides onto the steering column’s bracket








Then, the mounting gets glued to the steering column...

See red circles in 2 pictures below...







Now these 4 glued spots are supposed to break during an accident... Why ??





In an accident (head-on)... The mountings (red arrows) will stay bolted to the vehicle... Then, the steering column (green arrows) will collapse in the direction of the yellow arrow. This will only happen if the 2 glued brackets are able to break loose. This makes for a “collapsible” steering in the event of an accident.

What happens now is that the glue breaks of during normal use, which causes the steering column to rattle on its own mountings.

I removed my Triton’s cover, grabbed hold of my steering wheel, and started pushing and pulling on it... I could clearly see that my Triton’s exact mountings are also loose....

So, to fix the “loose” steering column, you should just permanently attach these 2 little mountings to the steering column bracket.

Now I have not done this to my vehicle yet, so I have no solution on HOW to attach the two... But I’m either considering using a lot of Pratley Steel glue, or maybe to use 2 X 2mm bolts on each bracket (through the holes used for the glue). These 2mm bolts should (but I CANNOT guarantee this) break in an event of a head-on accident, which COULD perhaps still give you a collapsible steering column. There are a lot of ways to fix this, but as mentioned... Permanently fixing these little brackets to the steering column COULD cause your steering column NOT to collapse in a head on collision.

[steve1961]

That is fantastic work SinWolf ...iam sure like my self theres dozens here on this site that have wondered how these lil buggers work and what causes the rattle
But having studied the pictures you have supplied , i agree that the only way would be to use some kind of " shear " pin / bolt ... iam looking forward to seeing others ideas

[boycee]

Great write up. Helps to understand even if it's not good enough that in this day and age we can't get one to last.

[steve1961]

Having thought about this for a minute ... instead of using 2mm bolts how about 2 mm nylon pins glued into place
In anycase you would void warranty and leave yourself open to huge legal issues if there was a fatal accident but surely mitsubishi could re engineer this for an easy fix

[ML-VR08]

Mine has developed the annoying steering wheel rattle - going over potholes and un even bumps i can feel the slight rattle when the tyres are shaking also.... is this a warranted issue? I have brought this up with the dealers before but to no avail....

[steve1961]

Mine has developed the annoying steering wheel rattle - going over potholes and un even bumps i can feel the slight rattle when the tyres are shaking also.... is this a warranted issue? I have brought this up with the dealers before but to no avail....

It sure is ... this is exactly what they are being replaced for

[snowman]

nice write up Wolf!!!

[SinWolf]

Having thought about this for a minute ... instead of using 2mm bolts how about 2 mm nylon pins glued into place
In anycase you would void warranty and leave yourself open to huge legal issues if there was a fatal accident but surely mitsubishi could re engineer this for an easy fix

Yes, this might also work ! As long as it is tough enough to withstand everyday use...

For a permanent fix, you "could" also remove those little brackets and weld a piece of flatbar directly to the column mounting... But then there is no way that the column would colapse in an accident...

At least now we know what the problem is... And it's A LOT of money for a replacement column... only to think those 8 spots of glue is the problem...

[steve1961]

Well now having seen one and knowing what the problem is ... soon as mine plays up again ill be removing it and nylon pinning it ... the nylon will shear in an accident but should be strong enough to stop that bloody rattling / knocking

[Homer]

Great info SinWolf!

Soon enough these things wont be under wty and to know what the problem is and maybe manage to come up with an effective, safe fix that wont cause liability issues is great.

[ag9111]

Silastic

[steve1961]

Silastic

As silly and messy as that sounds ... enough of the goop applied after its bolted up would probably dampen the knock as its the knock that is the issue ... its not a safety thing

[ag9111]

You wouldn't need much to stop the rattle. Its just another adhesive

[Steane]

Silastic

Was thinking the same thing...

Is this really all the problem is?

I can't comprehend why this hasn't been fixed by Mits by now. I could half understand it when we were being told it was a bush that was flogging out (possibly a design problem that required re-engineering), but a few blobs of adhesive... Introducing an improved adhesive would surely be cheaper than swapping thousands of columns over, often more than once.

Boggles the mind a bit.

[SinWolf]

Maybe they don't want to mess with the design beacuse of the NCAP rating the vehicle achieved with the current safety measures in place... Changing this design could mean that they need to re-test all the Safety features ???

I don't know... just a suggestion....

[steve1961]

I was told by stealer it wasn't a safety concern when i had it replaced ... and now knowing what it is iam not overly worried about it ... in fact if you were to try the silicon fix you wouldn't even have to remove it ... it would be a 10 min / overnight cure fix

[SinWolf]

Yip...

In fact.... The steering rattle is not a safety concern, but a safety "FEATURE"

[sam]

Silastic

I don't think silastic would be the best option but maybe Sikaflex ( polyurethane ) would be the go .

[ag9111]

Why Sam. I thought sikaflex was a stronger adhesive. You dont want strenght in this, just something to stop the rattle

[Kegsy]

Sikaflex is used to hold firewalls into truck bodies, seam seal etc. Its actually very strong if used on a properly prepped surface.

By the looks, the bracket is still holding the column, but its just rattling. So you just need a noise dampener / gap filler. Silastic would be spot on IMO.

Sika would probably be ok, but I'd be far more comfortable avoiding it in this scenario. That stuff is amazingly strong.

[steve1961]

Agreed Kegsy ... but if sikaflex solved the problem .. iam quite happy to do it to stop the knock ... and more so then to have some pimply faced apprentice pulling my car apart with the attitude of ohhhh no not another of these effing things again

[Kegsy]

Yeah Im hearing ya, Im the same.

I'd probably try silastic first, if no love, then go the sika.

I certainly wouldn't use sika if regular silastic was good enough.

[Buzzy]

Silastic attracts rust but shouldnt be a problem inside the cab.
Good find SW

[RHKTriton]

Lucky bugger to get hold of a column to play with Sinwolf.

There must be two issues with the column then, I assume. 1. Rattle and 2. Play when turning.

I have just double checked mine and there is no rattle, however I get a noise when turning at times - getting worse. When I hold onto the shaft ( just before it disappears through the floor ) and try to rotate the wheel, I can feel a distinct amount of play between the wheel the the rest of the shaft.

Irrespective of mounting looseness, there shouldn't be any play within the assembly.

With the shaft you have, have you tried to pull the splined section apart to see what makes up this section?

PS. Scary how little the column actually seems to be able to collapse.

[SinWolf]

Lucky bugger to get hold of a column to play with Sinwolf.

There must be two issues with the column then, I assume. 1. Rattle and 2. Play when turning.

I have just double checked mine and there is no rattle, however I get a noise when turning at times - getting worse. When I hold onto the shaft ( just before it disappears through the floor ) and try to rotate the wheel, I can feel a distinct amount of play between the wheel the the rest of the shaft.

Are you SURE that the play is not created by the "complete" column turning slightly (due to the loose mountings) ??

Irrespective of mounting looseness, there shouldn't be any play within the assembly.

With the shaft you have, have you tried to pull the splined section apart to see what makes up this section?

PS. Scary how little the column actually seems to be able to collapse.

The one I have examined, dos not have any other play... BUT... There is one more section where the same glue was used which could cause your problem...


I'll have to take a decent picture of this section... But the following pic should give you an idea...



As indicated (by the red circle)... That is where the 2 shafts colapse "into" each other in the event of a head on collision... If the glue has failed on this shaft, it could perhaps create "play" on your steering... ???

But as mentioned.... On the column I examined, the glue on this shaft was solid !!