Tomi72

A buddy of mine has had problems with a loose tilt column in his '76 and since I have repaired the column in my '72 few years ago I volunteered to help him look into it. The steering wheel was loose in all directions so we were hoping it would be just a case of loose bearing support bolts.

When we tore into it we found out that the problem was a bit more complicated... About half an inch of the top of the steering column jacket has broken off, so the lock plate where the bearing support bolts to is not held in place by the column jacket anymore. The question is would you weld the broken off pieces back on or start looking for a replacement column?

Here's a picture of the top of the broken column:



and for comparison here is how it should look:

TimAT

That one was loose for a long time. The best fix would be to replace the column- inner mast jacket anyway. I have (in the past) welded them back together and ground them down to the everything fits correct size. Really, IMHO, not the best safest fix, but serviceable in a pinch. As bad as that one looks, you'll probably be better off finding new parts.

Dalannex

I have welded and ground down 3 of these with the exact same break and they are all fine to this day. As long as you know how to weld decent or take it to a good welder you can fix that right up in no time.


-Justin

Tomi72

Thanks for your comments, I'll pass them on to my friend.