When my rag joint became brittle and
fell apart in my '70 LeBaron I did what everyone else would do...... I
cried. I too, had trouble finding an O.E. replacement. So, I took two of
those "flat donuts" and put them together to approximate the
thickness of the "hockey puck". I check it occasionally to
make sure it is o.k. My steering works and feels great.
Ummm. That solution just can't be the same as
using a part that is properly engineered and designed for the loads that your
car can generate at extreme ends of the operational spectrum.
Chrysler Engineering had a stellar reputation for
over-engineering things so that they were dependable. How sure can
one be about modifying a part or replaceing it with something intended for
unknown applications? Does it say on the side of the package that the mfg
approves spicing two together and that they assume liability for that solution
on YOUR car? What do you say to a passenger who pays if it fails?
I'm trying to phrase this so that it doesn't sound
hysterical or angry - please don't take it that way. I almost killed
someone by taking a shortcut once. I left the grease cap off of a Lincoln
front disc that I promptly drove to Vegas (I just didn't think and I
was shortcutting, rushed, and lazy when the original part refused to
go back on). Went over 100 several times. The bearings and spindle
were roasted bright irridesent blue and the eight cent cotter pin was literally
the only thing holding the wheel on the car when we hit "the
Strip". That deeply scared the heck out of me, and I don't do
half-way stuff anymore. Ever. What would I have told Jennifer's
parents at her funeral? Thinking about folding a wheel in the desert
really creeps me out, and I think that I just escaped death on that one!
Suppose your solution works for years, and one day
you're going around a sharp corner at medium speed, jig the wheel to avoid
something and hit a pothole funny? At that precise moment, your steering
would have many multiples of the daily load placed on it in a heartbeat.
Add in fatigue from having the big block exhaust closer and hotter than
wherever that thing was supposed to live and the plastic is fatigued or
something else unforseen by the part's designer and you?
Using something non-stock on the steering really
bothers me. You're comfortable with it, and it works for you, but if I
knew you personally, I'd probably give you a really hard time about that, so
there you have my personal opinion, even though we only know each other via
this imaginary club-house. I held my tounge about the $8 part idea and
was hoping that people would read between the lines on my response, but that's
some really adventurous stuff there.
Anyway, the part that is correct as far as I know contains
metal parts surrounded by a large volume of solid rubberized material
that is relatively stiff and purposefully designed and shaped to work on my
car. I don't care what works for A-bodies or Caddys or
whatever. I care what works correctly for my car. That missing material
in the middle makes that thing look floppy and scary. They are
expensive and scarce. Did I mention that I bought one for each of my cars
when I found out that they were available at a steep price? What if
they're more expensive or simply not available tomorrow?
Caveat Emptor on that one. Sorry for ranting.
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