Arty Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Wow, it's been a really long time since I've posted here. Anyway, the title says it all- Are the u joints of a steering column (in this particular case, a 2006 Legacy 2.5i Limited wagon) directional? I ask because I had to replace the steering rack on my car and when I finally got everything buttoned up and aligned well enough to go have the alignment done professionally, I was horrified to realize that the steering wheel was now upside down. What did I do wrong? Please, someone tell me there is a quicker way to fix this than having to go all the way back to having to lower the steering rack again to uncouple it from the u joint and turn the wheel 180 degrees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 You can slide the knuckle up the steering shaft and release it from the steering rack input shaft, rotate 180 degrees and refit. Or pull the steering wheel, rotate and replace, do up the retainer nut and put the wheel back together. No need to drop the rack Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 (edited) Double post Edited September 30, 2021 by el_freddo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arty Posted September 30, 2021 Author Share Posted September 30, 2021 9 hours ago, el_freddo said: You can slide the knuckle up the steering shaft and release it from the steering rack input shaft, rotate 180 degrees and refit. Or pull the steering wheel, rotate and replace, do up the retainer nut and put the wheel back together. No need to drop the rack Cheers Bennie So I guess it is directional? I tried to get it off the steering shaft, but it just wouldn't budge at all. Maybe I can try and convince it a bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arty Posted September 30, 2021 Author Share Posted September 30, 2021 Update- Just went to a local mechanic to see if they'd be willing to flip the u joint for me (I really don't want to mess with this if I can avoid it at this point) and I was warned that the clock spring in the steering column is out of phase now and he'd have to take the whole thing apart to put it back together correctly, because if not, the airbag will deploy and kill me. I get this feeling that that's not entirely true, but if it is, someone please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nvu Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 not sure on legacies, but on my imprezas, the ujoint bolts are reachable in the engine bay. if you unhook the steering column from the inside and let the wheel rest on the front seat. there's enough play to unhook the ujoint and flip the wheel around. do it with the battery unplugged because airbags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Clock spring could be an issue depending on the design. I reckon that mechanic was politely saying no to your request. I forgot about the trick @nvu posted. Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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