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What is the purpose of shear bolts on the steering

Posted: 20 Feb 2008 02:59
by 92rrrandall
What is the purpose of shear bolts on the steering column?? There are two shear bolts there and also two smaller shear bolts on ignition switch/lock. My guess would be that it has something to do with theft prevention or to make the steering column collapse in an accident.

Randall

Posted: 20 Feb 2008 03:51
by Rich in Vancouver
The idea was to prevent someone from removing the steering lock from the column. If they could do so they could then just hotwire the car and drive away.

Rich

1975 TR7 ACL764U
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Posted: 20 Feb 2008 05:17
by Hasbeen
Rich, I must disagree with you on this one.

I believe they had a realy nasty young sod of an engineer at
Triumph.

He thought it was funny to make a bunch of silly old farts, crawl
around in the bl@@dy foot wells of 25, to 30 year old TR7s, to drill
the bl@@dy things out, when they could have unbolted them quite
easily, with normal fasttenings.

If I could find out who specified the bl@@dy things, & I could get
at him, he would suffer a serious injury, & what's more, I don't
like them, incase you hadn't guessed.

Hasbeen

Posted: 20 Feb 2008 14:01
by Rich in Vancouver
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

There are actually a couple of ways to remove them that are easier than drilling.

1/use a sharp center punch, place it to one edge of the shear bolt head and gently tap it in a counterclockwise direction to loosen.

2/Using a Dremel tool cut a slot in the head to undo with a slot screwdriver.

Cheers,
Rich

1975 TR7 ACL764U
Image

Posted: 20 Feb 2008 18:32
by john 215
Hi Hasbeen,
That will be the same 'young sod' that went on to design the clip that holds on the wheel cylinder then [:(!]
Cheers John.

LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!
1979 3.5 FHC(STATUS PENDING!!)
Image
1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6 WILL BE ON THE ROAD VERY SOON!
Read My Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/ ... hp/John215

Posted: 21 Feb 2008 18:22
by dave.c
I hope you dont mean the brake cylinder as ive just bought a pair off E-bay was going to be my next job
better not make any plans then!

Its hard not to be big headed driving itImage

Posted: 21 Feb 2008 20:12
by john 215
Hi Dave,
Cylinder itself no problem [:)] Just the ssstttttoooooooopppppppiiiiddd clip that retains it, screwdriver normaly slips off whilst you trying to lever on clip, the screw driver then digs its way into your finger [B)] the said clip then flys off to the dark corner of your garage, you know the one under your work bench never to been seen again [V]
Cheers John.

LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!
1979 3.5 FHC(STATUS PENDING!!)
Image
1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6 WILL BE ON THE ROAD VERY SOON!
Read My Blog http://www.waringstowntr7s.co.uk/blogs/ ... hp/John215

Posted: 22 Feb 2008 01:52
by FI Spyder
I've put hundreds of these c-clips on with no problem (both straight and curved) although they were lots smaller (in various office products). They could be levered on with appropriate sized screwdriver depending on their size. Now I've taken these off but not put them back on yet but based on their size I can see it would be very difficult to lever them on with a screw driver. I would try starting them with a screw driver but once it's caught in the groove I'd tap it in with a flat tipped punch and a rap with a hammer. Be warned it's imperative that the punch has to be centred, if it's not the clip could go flying. Won't be in position to do it for a couple of weeks but I thought I'd post this now.

TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra
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Posted: 22 Feb 2008 02:49
by Ferris
I gave this particular sod of an engineer a name - Nigel Screwright.

Every time I run into something like this, well, ol' Nigel got me again! It makes me feel better to actually curse his name.



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Kevin Anderson
1980 TR7 DHC
1974.5 MGB GT
1990 Jaguar XJ40

Posted: 22 Feb 2008 04:38
by Rich in Vancouver
"Nigel Screwright" I like that[:D]

My C-clips were on the verge of being pooched and the new cylinders didn't come with any so I popped down to our local marine hardware store and invested in some before even attempting the job. The new clips had lots of spring and went on without any trouble. I tried one of the old ones and it folded like a bad hand.

Cheers,
Rich

1975 TR7 ACL764U
Image

Posted: 02 Mar 2008 10:26
by dave.c
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Hi Hasbeen,
That will be the same 'young sod' that went on to design the clip that holds on the wheel cylinder then
Cheers John.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Well I can certainly agree with you after trying to find where it sprung off to each time but managed to do it only to get rained off whilst bleeding them.
All jobs can be sh** if you have to rely on the weather
ATB Dave

Its hard not to be big headed driving itImage