Joe Lucia can you identify these part #s

[Jim S.]

Joe,
My contact at Saginaw indicated that the flex coupling spacer 7800470 was used on the following assemblies:
5698331
5698333
5699101
He is going to try and dig up some 40+ year old drawings for me.

He also says that they are steering columns. It doesn't seem correct that the spacer would have been shipped as part of a steering column. I have always thought that the flex couplings were shipped on the steering gear.

Jim

[Joe L.]

Re: Joe Lucia can you identify these part #s

Joe,
My contact at Saginaw indicated that the flex coupling spacer 7800470 was used on the following assemblies:
5698331
5698333
5699101
He is going to try and dig up some 40+ year old drawings for me.

He also says that they are steering columns. It doesn't seem correct that the spacer would have been shipped as part of a steering column. I have always thought that the flex couplings were shipped on the steering gear.

Jim

Jim------

The GM #5698331 and 5698333 were some sort of either steering column or steering column-related part. However, from what I can determine, they were not a Chevrolet-utilized part but used on some other GM car line. Since they were, apparently, not Chevrolet-utilized parts, I can't ID them as to exact application. Both were discontinued from SERVICE in early 1975.

I can find no record, at all, of the 5699101. Either it was never available in SERVICE, not used on a Chevrolet, or both.

[Jim S.]

Re: Joe Lucia can you identify these part #s

Thanks Joe,
I will wait for some more information on the "Where Used" from my contact at Nexteer (formerly Saginaw Steering Gear Division, formerly Delphi Saginaw Steering).

I thought that I have seen those Spacers on a 1967 Generation I Camaro. I still don't understand why the spacer would be associated with the steering column.

Jim

[Joe L.]

Re: Joe Lucia can you identify these part #s

Thanks Joe,
I will wait for some more information on the "Where Used" from my contact at Nexteer (formerly Saginaw Steering Gear Division, formerly Delphi Saginaw Steering).

I thought that I have seen those Spacers on a 1967 Generation I Camaro. I still don't understand why the spacer would be associated with the steering column.

Jim

Jim------


I agree. I don't understand why the spacer would be included as part of a steering column assembly, either. However, I suppose it's possible that it was a part used for some other application on a steering column. It wouldn't seem like it would be but who knows?

What is Nexteer? I know that GM had "taken back" Saginaw Steering from DELPHI some time back. Did they subsequently "spin it off" as a new company known as Nexteer?

[Jim S.]

Re: Joe Lucia can you identify these part #s

At the moment it still belongs to General Motors who is trying to sell it. Evidently, it will be Nexteer from now on regardless who owns it. Interestingly, in the near term, Saginaw (Nexteer) has lost a big Ford Motor Company steering column contract because Ford "refuses to buy from a competitor (GM)."

From what I understand, Nexteer, has been, and still is a quite profitable company. It just doesn't fit into Delphi's plans for a computer software/hardware driven company. I am not sure why GM took it back unless it had something to do with a rapid exit from bankruptsy for Delphi.

Jim

[Jim S.]

Re: Joe Lucia can you identify these part #s

Well it looks like I have reached a dead end with respect to the 7800470 Rivet Cap. We found only one flexible coupling assembly (7801086) that actually shows the cap installed and shipped from Saginaw as part of the assembly.

That flexible coupling assembly is similar to the 5692974 flex coupling (1965-66 Corvette with telescoping steering column) except that the flange that attaches to the steering column is shorter on the 7801086 assembly than the one that is part of the Corvette coupling assembly.

Joe,
Do you have any records on the 7801086 Coupling Assembly?

All I can say is that my drawing of coupling assembly 5692974 (1965-66 Corvette with telescoping column) was released for production on 9-17-63 (two years before the telescoping steering column became available in 1965). The drawing has only one revision (and that shows the flange that connects to the steering gear with some minor changes.) So according to that assembly drawing and part number, it never had rivet caps.

The other coupling assembly 5690809 (1963-66 Corvette with standard column) was released for production on 12-21-61. (Again nearly two years before start of 1963 Corvette production.) That coupling assembly was bolted together with bolts that had extended heads. So the 7800470 rivet cap would not have even fit over the hex head on the those special bolts.

Jim

[Joe L.]

Re: Joe Lucia can you identify these part #s

Well it looks like I have reached a dead end with respect to the 7800470 Rivet Cap. We found only one flexible coupling assembly (7801086) that actually shows the cap installed and shipped from Saginaw as part of the assembly.

That flexible coupling assembly is similar to the 5692974 flex coupling (1965-66 Corvette with telescoping steering column) except that the flange that attaches to the steering column is shorter on the 7801086 assembly than the one that is part of the Corvette coupling assembly.

Joe,
Do you have any records on the 7801086 Coupling Assembly?

All I can say is that my drawing of coupling assembly 5692974 (1965-66 Corvette with telescoping column) was released for production on 9-17-63 (two years before the telescoping steering column became available in 1965). The drawing has only one revision (and that shows the flange that connects to the steering gear with some minor changes.) So according to that assembly drawing and part number, it never had rivet caps.

The other coupling assembly 5690809 (1963-66 Corvette with standard column) was released for production on 12-21-61. (Again nearly two years before start of 1963 Corvette production.) That coupling assembly was bolted together with bolts that had extended heads. So the 7800470 rivet cap would not have even fit over the hex head on the those special bolts.

Jim

Jim-------


I can find no record of GM #7801086 in the entire GM SERVICE parts system going back to 1973 and no record of it in the Chevrolet SERVICE parts system going back to 1940. So, it was either a part that was never available in SERVICE or it's a part for a non-Chevrolet GM application that was once available in SERVICE but was discontinued prior to 1973.