Non Conductive Steering Coupling

[Hampole]

Hi,

I have a 72 bay. I've changed my steering coupling for a vw genuine one, but found it is slightly conductive. It's not enough to bring the horn on, but once you press the horn, it won't turn off. I have read others have had this problem.

So, if the vw genuine is no good, what do other people buy to ensure the coupling is non conductive. I was thinking of buying the German quality one listed on C&C. It's not advertised as vw geniune, so is hopefully different.

Any help greatfully received

 

[67westy]

First question is where did you buy the genuine one from? Some suppliers have advertised non-genuine couplings as genuine.

If it is an actual genuine one send it back as faulty for replacement, if it isn't genuine send it back for a refund!

 

[Hampole]

Hi,

I bought it from JK, but it was over 1 year ago, so doubt they will take it back now (only just got round to doing the job). I'm quite sure it's a genuine one as it has the vw logo imprinted into the rubber and itbhas the vw part number embedded into it. Also in comparison to a gsf one I bought in desperation, it is far better quality. The trouble with it is that with it just on the bench, I read 1.2k ohms between two points of the rubber. This seems to get worse as it get clamped down onto the steering box and steering shaft. Worst I read was 120 ohms with it attached to the bus.

Where do others get there's from?

 

[chad]

Got mine from VWH - no problems with it

 

[67westy]

Sounds genuine, mine came from heritage and has worked fine, done two now. On the non gen one I had you could see the reinforcing metal strips poking through and touching the metal bolt sleeves. Might be worth checking for that and wrapping insulating tape round the sleeves.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Hampole]

Hi,

It does not have metal reinforcing strips. I removed the inserts and found there to be a cloth / string type re-enforcement embedded into the rubber. I did however still do what you said, by using heat shrink around the metal inserts. With this mod, off the van I measured open circuit between the metal inserts. But as soon as it was clamped down on the bus it was down to 800 ohms. It seems that when the rubber is clamped down it gets worse.

I have now spoken about this problem to C&C. They were not aware if this issue, but were very understanding. I have ordered both couplings that they sell. They have told me the £25 one is VW genuine, and the £15 one is repro. They removed the inserts from the repro one and told me that all they could see was rubber down the hole. So this may be promising. I will try the genuine (again) first, but I don't have high hopes for it. They have agreed to refund me the one I don't use.

I would prefer a polyurethane one, as this will be non conductive. However, I can't seem to find any one who stocks one for a bus.

I'll keep you posted

 

[davechorlton]

I read some horror stories about a year ago on polyurethane ones splitting etc, so I would stay away from them...

 

[Hampole]

Thought I'd update you with how this problem was resolved...

I spoke to C&C about the problem I had discovered with conductive steering couplings. They had not heard of the problem, but were very helpful. They confirmed that they stocked the VW genuine coupling and an aftermarket repro. I bought both, with the understanding that I could send the one I didn't use back. The first thing I did was to measure the resistance of them both.

The first picture below is the repro one. This measured 1.6 Mega Ohms, worst case. In places it was upto 22 Mega Ohms! So very healthy.



The next picture is the VW genuine coupling. You can see it measured a disappointing 600 ohms!



This is no where near enough. What I found is when it is clamped down on the bus it lowers even more to around 140 ohms!. Thus the horn comes on all the time.

You can see that the repro one also lowers it's resistance when clamped down, but is still a healthy 220 Kilo Ohms:



So that concludes it folks! The VW genuine coupling is no good for buses with horns that need a non conductive coupling to work properly. I was actually quite happy with the quality of the repro one C&C sold me.