Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 15:14:07 -0700
Reply-To: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: sheer bolts/steering column
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20031021163437.0748c7e8@pop1.attglobal.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
I have always treasured the wise words of my brother
of the east. Sheerly you know this but on this issue
consider the following.
They use these kind on bolts on many other cars.
The nature of the sheer force is in the composition of
the soft metal of the bolts. The need to have the
sheer point for tighening them is so that you do not
tighten them so much you sheer them internaly and have
them fail later. Furthermore the need to sheer has
nothing to do with protecting you from a flying
ignition switch but to allow the steering mechanism to
collapse instead of moving toward the driver.
My audi had these some bolts and the passat has them
too. Two other mechanics, one from nissan and one
from lexus and the vw parts man all sing this same
toon. Safety not security
I do not think it is a security issue as there are
easier ways to take a car than attacking those bolts
buried deep in the dash. When I replaced my sheer
bolts I used nice hex heads in case I need to remove
it again. David I bet I even uses the same size?
gary
--- David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> At 03:32 PM 10/21/2003, gary hradek wrote:
> >Jeff,
> > It is not so the torque is right but so the
> bolts
> >sheer during an accident. I would reuse them and
> >perhaps use some locktite. gary
>
> I respectfully disagree...the dealer says the bolts
> are an antitheft
> measure; and examining the setup makes it very hard
> to see how the bolts
> would shear in a collision or what use it would be
> if they did. The bolts
> attach the column to a pair of fairly thin straps
> suspended from the upper
> dash area. These straps operate primarily in
> tension and have no provision
> to keep them in place sideways which would be
> required to shear the bolts
> (in fact you sometimes have to bend them a bit by
> hand when remounting
> because they got disturbed while the dash was off,
> or coming off). OTOH
> they *do* have the characteristic bend in the middle
> -- like the notches in
> the stiffening members of the hood of a conventional
> car) so that they will
> surely buckle if placed under a strong compression
> load.
>
> It would be nice if someone took some pictures
> illustrating all this -- If
> no-one else has by the next time my dash comes off,
> I will. A pair of
> those bolts is about fifteen bucks from the dealer,
> and it seems silly to
> bother with them when any decent thief is going to
> use a slam-hammer on the
> ignition switch anyway.
>
> Even supposing that the bolts *were* intended to
> shear in collision, in
> that case it would be necessary to use new bolts
> each time as VW specifies,
> since the shearing of the head would in this case
> make sure that the
> tightening torque was not too high or low.
>
> My own suggestion would be to replace them with
> ordinary M-10 (M-8?)
> hex-head bolts and be done with it. And if anyone
> wants a pair of the
> dealer monstrosities (nice parkerized-looking finish
> on them) they can have
> them for $15 plus postage which is about what I paid
> for them. I'm betting
> that the price has gone up enough to make that an
> attractive deal.
>
> regds,
> david
>
>
> --
> David Beierl - Providence RI USA --
> http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
> '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
> '85 GL "Poor Relation"
>
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