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Gearjammer, I went through my column on a refresh and ran into one major issue. One part I had a HELL OF A TIME with was keeping the bearings and races together on reassembly. The packed grease holds the ball bearings in their place but the slightest movement when trying to close the column housing back into place makes it come apart and some of the ***** from the bearing drop out onto the floor or find their way stuck to a part of the shaft outside of the bearing/race assembly.
How do you properly install these without wanting to go lay down out in the road for the next car to run you over? I finally got them in but during the reassembly I noticed one of the plastic retainers which holds the ball bearings was broken.... It's all packed in place and snug but it bothers me. I'm expecting to open it all back up and replace it with another piece.
Gearjammer, I went through my column on a refresh and ran into one major issue. One part I had a HELL OF A TIME with was keeping the bearings and races together on reassembly. The packed grease holds the ball bearings in their place but the slightest movement when trying to close the column housing back into place makes it come apart and some of the ***** from the bearing drop out onto the floor or find their way stuck to a part of the shaft outside of the bearing/race assembly.
How do you properly install these without wanting to go lay down out in the road for the next car to run you over? I finally got them in but during the reassembly I noticed one of the plastic retainers which holds the ball bearings was broken.... It's all packed in place and snug but it bothers me. I'm expecting to open it all back up and replace it with another piece.
Wow, hate to hear that. I had no problem with the bearing / races when I rebuilt my column. Dont remember it being an issue.....I do seem to recall that the upper bearing would want to slide out of its race a little bit and allow the steering shaft to flop around a bit in the upper housing, but once you reinstalled the compression spring that snugged everything back up.
Seems to me the broken plastic retainer you mention is the source of your problem? If so, then yeah, that must have been a huge PIA to put back together without the ball-bearings falling out. good grief that would sux?!??!
After reading this thread and Gear Jammers write up I took on the job of pulling my steering column to remove the slop from pulling on the steering wheel while exiting the corvette. STOP DOING THAT!!!
This job is not for old men, faint of heart, and people with no patients. I am the old man. 63
The completed job is very rewarding when there is no slop left in the steering wheel, very tight steering now, turn signal works like new along with the high beam switch. I agree with Gearjammer, I think the high beam switch was not adjusted properly from the factory or maybe not tightened and it worked loose.
Some other thoughts.
• I built a fixture out of perforated angle, clamped in a bench vise, and then bolted on the column to make the rebuild easier. That worked great.
• I removed the seat and seat support to make more room – Only 8 bolts and the seat is out in 4-5 minutes
• Like gear jammer, take pictures before taking anything apart or taking out any screw – this helps with assemble ( Do not worry about wasting film. The pictures are digital so takes lots) (I took none and paid the price in time and it added10 hours)
• Having Field Service Manual (FSM) along with Gear jammers thread made assembly possible
• Definitely purchase NEW old Stock if you can. The aftermarket support assembly housing I purchased from Davies Corvette did not work with the locking shoes. I had to use a Dremel with a carbide burr bit to remove metal from the back side of the locking shoes hooks. If you do the wrong side of the locking shoes you will destroy the shoes. The aftermarket housing either has larger pins or the distance between the pins is incorrect.
• There is some wear on the steel pivot pins. About .002. Doesn’t sound like much but the housing had a hole that was out of round by .008. Both combined makes for a very sloppy steering wheel. I had about a 1 to 1-1/2” movement from the 2 o’clock towards the 7 o’clock position before the fix. After repair I have no noticeable movement. No shake now when a hit bumps in the road. My son would not drive my Corvette because he did not like the wheel shaking ( Maybe I should not have fixed it)
• Not necessary to remove the steering column housing shroud once the Support assembly housing is removed.
• Take your time and follow the FSM in reverse of disassembly for reassembly.
• Be sure to purchase those Lower Spring retainer washers before starting – the old ones can be rusted and you will want to cut them off. I am not as smart as gear jammer. The ones I found cost $22.00 each and you need two.
• Have a nice long work bench and layout the parts as you remove them
• If it comes apart easy it should go together easy. If you have trouble tightening or installing bolts take a second look before tightening. You may be about to break some plastic.
• To save allot of time and sweat the easy route would be to buy a reconditioned steering column and just pull and replace. (What fun is that)
• For a seasoned mechanic I would guess this job should take 8-10 hours – for someone like me it took about 20 hours. I had to go purchase tools, hardware, and a Dremel grinder. Make sure you have all the tools listed in the FSM. The steering wheel puller and the shift lock retaining ring tool can be borrowed from an auto parts store. A slap jack with the correct screw can pull the pivot pins. The J22635 "Lock Shoe and Release Lever Pin Remover and Installer" tool is a must.
• Unless your steering column is rusted and your bearings are broken I do not think you need to change the bearings – Add some new grease and reuse the bearings. Use the GMC Lithium Red grease. I found a tube made by Valvoline at Wal-Mart for $3.00.
I am building a 1954 Dodge truck and put 96 Corvette suspension, front & rear, under it. Also I installed a 96 Corvette steering column in the truck. I took the steering column apart 3 years ago, had to shorten it 3" so I have room between the wheel and seat, and you photos saved me. I could not figure out where the dimmer switch rod went through the column.
Your photo, showing the hole in the cast piece saved the day.
I had to shorten both the dimmer and ignition switch rods 3" also.
So Thank You
Harold
I am building a 1954 Dodge truck and put 96 Corvette suspension, front & rear, under it. Also I installed a 96 Corvette steering column in the truck. I took the steering column apart 3 years ago, had to shorten it 3" so I have room between the wheel and seat, and you photos saved me. I could not figure out where the dimmer switch rod went through the column.
Your photo, showing the hole in the cast piece saved the day.
I had to shorten both the dimmer and ignition switch rods 3" also.
So Thank You
Harold
The attached photo is how I dealt with getting wires back down column.
Put them in my vice and used Gorilla Tape to hold them in alignment while I slid them down through the column.
Thanks for the heads up on getting wires in being the worst part of putting column back together.
Gear Jammer, I must say outstanding work!! I have this same issue with my '90 vett I've consider taking it apart for a very long time but the FSM isn’t very clear. As they say a picture is worth 1000 words.
By the way, what’s for dinner? I saw the steering column taking up most of the dining room table… LOL
It all helps, thanks. Where I am stuck is removing the housing that holds the (removed) pivot pins. Something else is holding it in place, limiting my access the the torx bolts.
These pins seemed tight and okay, making me unsure where the play originated; hence, what parts should be changed. I've half a mind to send the whole shebang to a pro for total redo.
I have another column from an '85 that is reported okay, but has no turn signal lever and requires some disassembly for that and the key changeover.
Plan B. Pulled the column out of the car (what fun) and transferred my key and turn lever. It was kinda fun (not) to fish a 'pull' wire, then the t/s wire through the proper hole in the column.
The borrowed wheel lock spring compressor tool doesn't do the trick. It tires, but is pulling the telescope shaft out. I am experimenting with bar clamps but the star wheel hits the housing before it's on far enough to slide the C clip in place.
Plan B. Pulled the column out of the car (what fun) and transferred my key and turn lever. It was kinda fun (not) to fish a 'pull' wire, then the t/s wire through the proper hole in the column.
The borrowed wheel lock spring compressor tool doesn't do the trick. It tires, but is pulling the telescope shaft out. I am experimenting with bar clamps but the star wheel hits the housing before it's on far enough to slide the C clip in place.
Arrgh.
Sounds like you just need a 5/16-18 set screw to insert in the upper telescoping to lock it. I'm pretty confident of the 18 thread but you could confirm that with your star locking thread.
Sounds like you just need a 5/16-18 set screw to insert in the upper telescoping to lock it.
That's where I was headed, but was tired, late in the day. I'll need to measure the length needed to pass through the U-fixture and get a threaded rod, or make one.
That's where I was headed, but was tired, late in the day. I'll need to measure the length needed to pass through the U-fixture and get a threaded rod, or make one.
thanks.
Socket head set screw and you only need to worry about the correct Allen/hex socket. Tape it to the lock-plate retaining tool, you won't need to look for it next time.. All tractor supply, good hardware and general chains should have them. A threaded rod is a waste!
A 6" 5/16" 18 tpi stove bolt and a bag 'o nuts worked. The U-tool needs to be tightened independently of the telescope locking mechanism. That regular hardware bolt screws firmly into the column's shaft to press on the offset cam, locking the telescoping (inside) shaft. An open end 3/8" wrench fits the square underside of the stove bolt for tightening, enough that the telescoping shaft does not move when the clamping bolt is tightened. That nut is a 1/2".
The rental kit had a bolt, but it was neither long enough nor had the separate nut (and washers) to pull the U-bolt down against the locking plate. I found that their bolt merely telescoped the shaft, NOT allowing an easy slide of the C-clip retainer, unlike when the locking wheel was properly pressed.
As for reassembly of the turn signal arm and high beam lever, the FSM's diagrams are quite good, plus some analysis of the parts in this puzzle shows where they go. I fed a stranded wire (about 14g) down through the upper column, starting through the hole where the turn signal arm enters the column! The strands worked nicely, snuggling into the T/S connector's slotted plug and folding back onto it for minimal thickness; needed to fish through the barely-large-enough hole through the column. That was rather easy.
Cool... it's a sticky!
Last edited by whalepirot; 03-07-2015 at 04:18 PM.
Hello everybody,
Glad to see this thread is still helping people with their sloppy tilt steering!
Heres an update: Sometime about a year and half ago, the VATS leadwire must have broken on the new ignition cylinder, as the car left me stranded one day. So much for quality replacement parts. Fortunately, I already had a VATS bypass resistor ready to go.
I fixed the broken links (how does imageshack decide which pictures to drop?) - looks like the forum finally has their own picture server, maybe the pictures will now stay in the thread longer.
Not sure what the term for the piece removed to get to the other two torx bolts is. That's where I got stuck; unable to find which part is causing the looseness.
Is it pulling the lower shaft that allows removal of that lower housing, or whatever it's called? Or, is it another pin atop and opposite the pivot pins?
I am sure that i have this issue on my '90 C4. It wobbles from about 1oclock to 7 oclock. Ever since i have had this car. Just one more thing to fix. You would think people would take better care of these awesome Vettes. Only had the car 2 years, and i am still fixing alot of things. I will have lots of $$into mine, just to get it back to right. So my question is how safe is it to drive the car with the wheel wobble? Ok for normal driving, but not "spirited" driving? I want to take this car to a local road course this summer, for some fun driving. It will be a while before i can get to fixing it. Prolly take the whole column out and have someone do the work, or send it in to the shop mentioned in the post. My high-beam switch also acts funny, like you gotta pull it a long ways to activate.
Good info here regardless.
I rebuilt a steering column for my friend's '92 automatic. The pivot pins had worked loose and to add insult - a "mechanic" had blacksmithed the thing together. (multiple sins were committed on this thing - not enough electrons available to explain on this thread! If you really want to see the pictures, I will post them) I ended up taking a '94 sedan column tilt to get the donor parts needed to fix it. I was able to retain the lower housing and only had to replace the upper housing. The only thing different was a .500 hole through one area. Fortunately, the casting had a nice pilot and I drilled it through. The casting part number was the same otherwise. All appeared to go together well. All the electrical stuff works fine etc.
However, the column will not hold its tilt position if any force is applied to the column. I did not change the pawls, as I kept those from the sedan. Are the pawls and engaging tilt pins different diameters? If anything, it seems like the pins in the lower housing are a larger diameter than the slots in the pawls. The reason I say this is because the tilt lever does not go all the way forward.
Before I extract the column or tear it down again, I would like to make sure I do not have a simple problem I am looking to make complex. Now that I have my friend's car disabled, the weight of the earth is on my shoulders. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
04-06-2014, 08:45 PM
!! I have this same issue with my '90 vett I've consider taking it apart for a very long time but the FSM isn’t very clear. As they say a picture is worth 1000 words.
