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Hi,
I know there’s been a lot of discussion on here about lowering the steering column, I was told that what you need to do is loosen the two bolts that or attached to the firewall down at the bottom of the steering column inside the car, then loosen and remove the two bolts that hold the steering column up while holding the steering column in position, take a small freestanding jack and put underneath the steering column so that the steering column does not drop completely down putting undue pressure on the bearing. I’m trying to put my speedo and tach dash panel back in. I have read all of Jim Sheas instructions, but that job is a bit much for me to remove the column completely.
Any suggestions would greatly appreciated.
I removed my steering wheel before removing the two nuts that are attached to the column. Since I never worked in the circus, I also removed the drivers seat. I used an appropriate size sturdy card board box to support the steering column once the bolts were loosened. There are two bolts that go through the firewall that must be removed. The fun part was trying to get my 50 year old wiring harness to sit on top of the tach / speedo. I tried to use the cable clips on the tach/ speedo and immediately broken off (they are plastic). My advice is to go slow and maybe use a hair dryer to warm up the wires, they are not easy to maneuver. Go slow or you can damage the tach / speedo clips. Good Luck. This was the worst repair I did on my 73.
Removing the column is easy. 2 nuts on the rag joint, 2 bolts on the firewall and the 2 bolts under the dash along with unplugging the electrical connectors. Just a 15 minute job.
I put an old broom handle ( suitably padded to protect the paintwork) across between the top of the windshield and the back of the car above the rear window. From this I used a strap looped through the steering wheel to support the steering column. I then undid the bolts through the rag joint and the firewall then lastly the ones under the dash. Adjusting the strap I could lower the column sufficient to remove and replace the instrument panel.
Lowering the steering column
