Well mine seems identical to @Pickles apart from 2 things. The logo has been ground off. And on the reverse side where pickles says glv103 then a 6, mine has glv103 then a 4. I'm really undecided about this. Mine seems to look right but I really can't see how it should be this bendy, just doesn't seem right.
To save anyone pooping their knickers unneccessarily, this is the worst of the worst, the type that will stretch and tear. The only marking it has are the words "Premium Quality". I'm a skinny old git with tennis elbow, let the picture do the talking...
I think that the genuine ones still available may be genuinely not as stiff as the original genuine ones were. I can remember being barely able to bend them at all but for the last 10 years they have been different. The situation has become a bit blurred with upteen different fake ones also polluting the market. I'd guess you have a genuine not-as-stiff-as-they-were one.
The genuine one I got from VWH last year was too stiff to bend at all. I have checked it a couple of times since and still doesnt bend when I turn the wheel. I just looked on ebay and its full of crap fake couplings.
Just been out the garage and I can safely say mine feels a lot stiffer than yours looks. The VWH invoice says Steering coupling, T2,68-79, GENUINE VW £21.25
GLV 103 means it’s a rubber flexible disc with 4x12mm holes on a 66mm PCD. https://www.powertrainindustries.co...ex Discs&PHPSESSID=gt9ptjqale9dvpslouljjfd1n0 SGF are the manufacturer. http://www.sgf.de/en/sgf-sueddeutsc...ducts/cord-reinforced-flexible-couplings.html My guess is the stiff ones are old stock (rubber hardens with age) and the more flexible ones are newer. I’d also guess that VW buy the couplings from SGF but don’t like being cut out of the loop so insist the logo is removed but the coupling with the logo removed is not a fake as such; VW have never made couplings, it’s a bought in item.
Interesting When you all find out where you can buy a good one from please give me a shout as mines falling apart and needs replacing.
You could replace it with a U/J like this http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/fr/large-diameter-steering-universal-joint-forged Check the size required of course, I just pulled that example off the interweb.
Thanks for the reply but its a rubber coupling for me I will need the damping effect it provides as i intend to use my van on rough tracks from time to time
Theres none available anywhere now that I could find It seems I got the last one ! However vewib will be making them now and stocks will arrive in new year. Whether they'll be any good we'll have to see.....
I think you're probably safe unless you have one like the one I pictured which are downright dangerous and cannot possibly cope with the forces expected of it.
no you dont VW brazil parts are becoming less and less and price is more and more I feel and maybe others do that im getting priced out of the game
I think the way forward is a universal joint to replace the rubber coupling which is dated by modern standards. The rubber coupling is very crude and a major weakness in the steering design. They fail, my old fake one failed and could have killed me. Ok, I managed to get a genuine replacement from VWH but I have lost trust in them so I check the new one often. Thats why I am interested in the Lite-Steer power steering as it uses a steel u/j between the column and the existing steering box. I dont think the rubber coupling provides any form of damping benefit, that comes with tyres and suspension. My old mgb has a u/j in its steering column and it gives a precise and reliable steer along with the rack and pinion steering. Lite-steer is the way for me to go.