I usually have enough resources that I don't need to post, so please forgive me for asking what may be a dumb question.

I pulled the steering column from my 1977 car to work on installing the clutch kit as I switched from automatic to manual and install a rack and pinion kit. After all was said and done, I found that I had hit something wrong :

My steering column no longer extends beyond 1" out the bottom of the column. That means that I can't connect my steering knuckles back up. Can someone tell me how to extend that out again? I have no problems pulling the steering column back out of the vehicle.

Anyone done this?

Joe

 

This is the method I used after I tried everything else and it worked great.

By BlackRat.
Today I finally got my column back in and attached to the sterring box properly. For those of you who have not seen my previous posts I have attached some pics of the problems I was having. As you know some if not all of our C3's have collapsable columns. What happens is when you are in a hard front end collision the bottom shaft will collapse on itself by sheering off the hard plastic injected pins. Once this happens it is a real PITA to get back out. this can also occur by dropping the column on its end.

I have read other methods that people have used including pulling on the end, hitting the end with a hammer (Not recommended) and using a pry bar to pull the column back out to the proper length. Although these methods may have worked for others i had no luck with 2 of the 3 and did not want to try the hammer method.

Here is what I did and it was easy and provided little stress on the column bearings and the column housing.

with the column removed from the car I reinstalled the top coupling of the rag joint to the lower shaft and tightened the pinch bolt as tight as I could get it. I then placed it on a flat surface where I could rest the firewall bracket against a solid surface so that I could put pulling pressure on the lower shaft without the column moving. I then wrapped one end of a come along around the coupling and lower shaft. I attached the top hook to a hard fixed point. I placed a peice of masking tape on the shaft up against the lower shaft bearing so that I could tell how much if at all the shaft pulled out. Lastly I slowly cranked on the come along handle with a smooth constant preassure. The shaft easily pulled out to the proper length within a few seconds and produced very little stress on any of the enternal parts and the housing. After all this I reinstalled the column and hooked the shaft to the steering box with ease.

I highly recommend this method and hope this helps out others with this problem.

 

Perfect! This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! (Maybe I'll have steering again!)

 

If you have a 1977 T&T steering column, your steering shaft should extend out from the lower bearing 4.9 inches.

If you have a 1977 standard (non-adjustable) steering column, your steering shaft should extend out from the lower bearing 4.75 inches.
Jim

 

This is good information. I couldn't see anything on this in the Chiltons/AIM books I have. Many thanks, Jim!