Butt pucker moment, lost steering at 65 MPH.

I was driving my big Eagle this past Sunday morning, towing my dirt bike and headed to day of riding. I was on a 4 lane country highway with a fairly wide medium. It was early and not many people on the road. I was traveling at 65 mph and there was a slight bend to the right in the road. The following happened in a few seconds. I turned the wheel to the right and realized it felt light, turned a little more and then realized it wasn't turning the wheels, I turned it more, about 180 degrees now, and nothing. I pressed my brakes ever so slightly, because I was worried that the wheels would turn one way or the other and cause the car to flip. I was able to bring it to a stop in the medium. After sitting there for a second and collecting myself. I took a look. Since the vehicle is lifted and the steering box is dropped, there is an extra u-joint on the steering shaft. There is a female shaft on the u-joint coming off the main shaft and a male coming out of the steering box that slides into the female shaft about 3". I don't see how they were kept together, there might have been some kind of clamp that fell off when they came apart or it might have been like this since I bought it and just decided to come apart. I was able to "fix" it with a hose clamp and some safety wire to get to the riding spot and get home. I now have to figure out how it is supposed to be held together. Afterwards, I had many scenarios going through my head of what could have happened if I lost steering somewhere more populated or a narrow, curvy, country road. I'm really glad it hasn't sold. I would have felt horrible, if something bad would have happened to the new owner.

When I got a chance to work on it a couple days ago, I figured out the guy who built it, attached a modified(cut down) shaft from a Jeep Cherokee to the Eagle's shaft. I tried to pull it apart and replicate what happened. No matter how hard I pulled or tugged, even with a prybar, I couldn't get it to come apart. I'm going to drill a hole and put a bolt through the shaft, but I'm baffled on how it happened.

 

Holly Crap, Jim!! Some one out there is watching over you, the odds of that turning into complete disaster were much greater than not!

 

Thank God it had some caster. Glad you came out OK.

mike

 

i can relate to your underwear shredding experience as i had a similar experience while leaving the Tupelo auto museum this summer. i had been driving a few hours to get there everything was fine . when i went to leave i'm coming up to a stop sign and no brakes,luckily i was tring to stop way before the stop sign and was able to safely run thru the stop sign ,cross the street, pull into a parking lot with an uphill grade to it and get the car going slow enough to throw it into park. brand new shock broke and took out the front brake line.
as far as your problem post a pic if you need some help ,just delt with steering shafts and dd shafts etc. to hook up the r&P

 

Such occurences are one of the best reasons to add a proportioning valve to your system if it doesn't have one. It will always pop and still leave you with half of your brake system.

 

I don't know who Jim is, but when I meet him, I'll let him know he was lucky.
Rick

Do you mind explaining what you mean by that? I know what caster is, just don't know how it effects steering.

I appreciate the help, but I think I've got it figured out. Loosing brakes would be scary. A few months ago, again towing my trailer with the dirt bike, I was coming up to a red light and hit the brakes and it didn't go full stroke and I was coming in fast to some cars in front of me. I mashed it with all I had and heard a loud cracking sound and the brakes went down further and the car stopped with just inches to spare. The buzzer for leaving the lights on, is a small plastic box that had falling from under the dash and right under the brake arm. A buddy of mine's dad lost his brakes, back in the 80's, but with worth results. My buddy had his dad take his 66 Mustang to work to drop it off at the repair shop, that was near his work, to get the brakes done. After picking it up that afternoon, he hit the brakes and nothing. Went through an intersection and got whacked by an ambulance. Car was totaled, but luckily his dad had minor injuries.

 

Glad you weren't harmed!

 

Scary. Glad your angel was watching over you.
Brakes and steering, don't leave home without them!
Lost brakes only twice many years ago with the single master on a 1954 Ford.
Lost tie rod on a KW with trailer full of Cat parts but somehow was able to slowly go 10 miles to the factory. Still had one front wheel steering and the free one stayed straight.

 

Great story Jim and glad you where not harmed. Chances are that if it ended up badly, the true source of the event might never have shown itself.


I have a similar story. My friend Don runs the West Coast Classic Cougar auto shop in North Salem. Back then I had a '72 Mach 1 and once in a while he and I would drive the cool stuff down to the river for a photo shoot.

This time, about 11 years ago, it was a '70 Mach 1 with a 428 CJ and 4-speed he was going to list on eBay. The mechanics had been working on it and Don felt that it was time and the sun was out..."would I like to go along?" I grabbed my camera and was there in 20 minutes.
†
The car was beautiful! Sleek, unrestored, a true survivor but still in great shape for a 30 year old muscle car. It was all warmed up and ready so we jumped in and blasted down the two-lane, cameras in hand.
The road runs over the railroad tracks, through a 4-way stop, then down into the flats where the Hops were being harvested. I think we must have hit 90 to 100mph on that straight. Came to a "T" where Don slowed enough to see up the road, turned the corner with-out stopping.... and the steering wheel came off in his hands...

We both laugh about it now. Nobody got hurt as he hit the clutch and feathered the brakes till the car coasted to the shoulder in less than a 1/8th of a mile. All the while Don had tried continually to get the wheel back on the shaft end and regain control. Seems the mechanics forgot to put the nut back on thinking we were only shooting pics in the parking lot.

Good times.

 

Jairus it just proves there should always be a nut behind the wheel!


By the way guys who's Jim?
I don't know who Jim is, but when I meet him, I'll let him know he was lucky.
Rick

 

"Eagle Freak" Rick, the O.P.
Better follow along more closely. (Glad you are well too. )

 

It doesn't. He meant something else. He simply missspelled "Castor" which is an oil derived from a certain bean. It is usually orally ingested and serves to unclench the pucker, Sir

That's nothing, Sir. Have you ever tried joyriding in a Prius which independently decides to drag race, despite you turning the ignition key into the off position?

 

Very scary indeed but I'm impressed how cool headed and clear thinking you were. Seems to me it would've been real easy to panic in that situation

 

Luckily, besides the driveway or parking lot, I can't think of a better place of it happening. It happened so fast, I didn't have time to panic. I honestly think my dirt bike riding for the last couple of years has prepared me mentally for something like this. I ride on single track in the woods dodging in and out of trees. You are constantly on and off the throttle hard and on the brakes hard. You have to think quick or it can get ugly fast.

 

Have you finally gotten your Fruit-of-Looms out of your butt crack? :confused: We are not concerned on whether they are tarnished or not!