A little safety warning for all T1 and T3 owners (possibly Kombi as well, been too many sleeps since I had one of those).
I've just put a t3 square back on the road. I pulled the fuel tank as it was full of c##p after sitting for a few years to give it a wash out etc. While it was out I had a good look at all the steering gear as it was easily got at. All sweet, nice and tight - must have been replaced in recent times.
Last thing I looked at was the steering coupler - the rubber disc with four holes that connects your steering column to the steering box. This looked OK, but I had a couple in my stash so I thought I'd change it anyway. When i took it out it had quite severe cracking all the way round, mostly in a radial direction.
it wasn't going to fail tomorrow, but what seemed OK was actually in poor shape. This is an often forgotten little piece of equipment tucked up out of the way, but your car doesn't steer very well without it!
This car seemed to have most of its steering gone through at some point, but this coupling was probably original '72 issue.
If you don't know when yours was done, it would pay to have a good look - but as I found that doesn't necessarily tell the true story. These are a cheap item although a bit of a bastard to replace unless you take the tank out.
Angus
karmann54 Officially Full-On Dubber
337 posts · joined Nov 2002 ·
