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[rollaholic]

i recommend finding a replacement steering column before you try any tapping, drilling, dieing antics.

good way to find yourself carless when things go pear shaped

[FST4RD]

Only thing is that if you ever worked on a starion anyone will tell you that it's the last job you want to do to one of them is remove the steering colum.... Totally serious....
This is why i'm trying to find out other options before having to resort to fing a colum and then attempting to swap them...

[rollaholic]

im not saying go ahead and swap it - i know you have a starion, i figured spare parts would be sparse. might want to find where you can get one from before you start hacking into your current one

[FST4RD]

im not saying go ahead and swap it - i know you have a starion, i figured spare parts would be sparse. might want to find where you can get one from before you start hacking into your current one

Yeah thats true I see what you mean
Well suppose I should find one.... then try a new thread on the one thats in there, if that doesn't work try drilling and tapping, then if that doesn't work pull half the front of the car to bits and try to get the old colum out and new one in

[rollaholic]

i once accidentally scored the end of a camshaft at work, the scratch was big enough to damage the seal when the camshaft was turning - so it leaked and leaked.

solution was to send camshaft to engine rebuilder, they built up a layer of weld of some sort over the end of the camshaft, then machined it back down to the correct size to get rid of the imperfection.

maybe you could find a place to do something similar for you, only with a thread instead?

[FST4RD]

i once accidentally scored the end of a camshaft at work, the scratch was big enough to damage the seal when the camshaft was turning - so it leaked and leaked.

solution was to send camshaft to engine rebuilder, they built up a layer of weld of some sort over the end of the camshaft, then machined it back down to the correct size to get rid of the imperfection.

maybe you could find a place to do something similar for you, only with a thread instead?

I think if the other solutions couldn't work and I had to take it I would do that or get it lathed down to the next size and threaded properly.
I mean the nut does up tight enough that if you yank on the steering wheel real hard it doesn't pull off but it's a little bit loose and you can feel the lack of thread...

[Matty104]

id suggest to just run the m12 die over the old thread and see if you can regain any meat (as cross threading it in the past may have not nesesarily taken to much steel away just squashed it if that makes sense) once you run the die over, run some thread tape around the thread , (or locktite if your never going to take it off) and it should be more secure , and if you feel you want more safety do the m8 or m6 bolt down the center if the shaft with the washers

[FST4RD]

id suggest to just run the m12 die over the old thread and see if you can regain any meat (as cross threading it in the past may have not nesesarily taken to much steel away just squashed it if that makes sense) once you run the die over, run some thread tape around the thread , (or locktite if your never going to take it off) and it should be more secure , and if you feel you want more safety do the m8 or m6 bolt down the center if the shaft with the washers

Thanks for that, thats the plan for now...
Just got to find someone with a big enough die to run over it...

[Dell'Orto]

You can actually get a die that is in 2 pieces, which you clamp around the good thread and wind back up over the stuffed section, which could be enough to give you a good threaded section again.

[FST4RD]

You can actually get a die that is in 2 pieces, which you clamp around the good thread and wind back up over the stuffed section, which could be enough to give you a good threaded section again.

Really? might head down to Mitre 10 mega and have a nosey I think...

[RS13]

You can actually get a die that is in 2 pieces, which you clamp around the good thread and wind back up over the stuffed section, which could be enough to give you a good threaded section again.

Really? might head down to Mitre 10 mega and have a nosey I think...

They're called die nuts. I'm pretty sure split dies are for resizing threads, whereas die nuts are for cleaning up threads, which is probably what you want to try first before resizing. You get them in tap and die kits, not sure where you'd go to get one by itself.. perhaps an engineering tool store if Mitre10 can't help you.

[Dell'Orto]

Yeah I'd say they're more of an engineering type tool than your average Mitre 10 item, but you never know.