How to turn the steering wheel lock WO key or battery

crawdaddy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon TDI/5spd swap
Have a 03 mk4 jetta, golfs are the same.
I need a used steering rack from a "you pick it" auto wreckers, and none of cars have the keys or batteries
How to turn the steering wheel lock WO key or battery?
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
Have a 03 mk4 jetta, golfs are the same.
I need a used steering rack from a "you pick it" auto wreckers, and none of cars have the keys or batteries
How to turn the steering wheel lock WO key or battery?
pure brute force... i've turned quite a few by grabbing the wheel and twisting. You can also chisel loose the breakaway bolts that hold the ignition lock in place.
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Where the steering shaft goes through the floor there is a u joint with a 13 mm bolt. Normally I would turn the steering wheel one turn and the bolt is easy to reach. With the wheel straight ahead you cannot see that bolt it points toward the firewall. Can you remove that bolt with a 13mm ratchet box wrench? Once removed the u joint wiggles off the steering rack stud.

And of course jimbote has a failsafe suggestion, with the sawzall.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I'd try and get the shaft off the rack from inside the car first... so long as the bolt is oriented in a way you can get it loose. You can also remove the steering column assembly and I am pretty sure the slip yoke (the part that is designed to collapse in a severe crash) will just slide off the lower part.
 

crawdaddy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon TDI/5spd swap
I been calling around to "U pull it" and auto parts store and all the mk4 steering rack are different part #'s, it's not like I go up to 04 gas golf and remove it.
I have a 03 mk4 jetta wagon 1.9.
 

crawdaddy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon TDI/5spd swap
Ok, so any would work, it doesn't matter if gas or diesel any mk4 would work?
So far "U pull it auto wreckers" is the cheapest.
I'm kicking myself because I had one before I moved, I bought a 99.5 mk4 jetta sedan at the old house for parts.
 

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
Golf , Jetta, beetle MK4 body all pretty much the same though I’m not sure about the 98-99 bugs. Gas or diesel, it won’t matter.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
They are all interchangeable. Gas, diesel, Mexican, Brazilian, German, Golf, Jetta, Beetle... yada-yada-yada. Even when you look up the part numbers, they often will distill back down to only one because only one supplier is used for replacements. They also show some different numbers for some models related to what size wheels they use (like GTI/GLI stuff) and for those cars using "all season" tires, etc. And to be honest, I have no idea what specific differences would be there. I just know that you can take any steering gear from any A4 platform car (save maybe the TT, not sure on those as I think they may have a quicker ratio) and install it in any other A4 platform car and it will work fine.

Now there are some differences in power steering lines and pumps that have to do with what transmission and engine are used as well as the angle of the fittings on the pump, and some high pressure lines have a little curly-cue right before the fitting at the rack, and of course the Beetle's reservoir is in a completely different location.
 
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