Anyone use and have any success using any type of permatex or like material to secure and make tighter the pivot pins in the column? Mine dont have to be banged in nor do they fall out. A good push and they will go in. I see a lot of post on this subject where they say they should almost have to be tapped in with a hammer. I 'm just thinking that there should be a type of permatex or like material that would make them tighter and less likely to work themselfs out again. Something other than Permatex Sleeve Lock cause once you use that you will never get it back off which isnt a good idea. thanx....G

 

anyone?

 

You can massage the pins a bit for a tighter fit.

Use either a small center punch with a sharp point & a small hammer or if you have a spring loaded center punch use it.

A vice or vice grips should hold the piece nicely.

Put several rows of small punch marks on each pin around the od. Each punch mark will raise the metal slightly around the punched area. Add as many punch marks as necessary for a tight fit.

I don't recall if the pins are hardened or not. If they are hardened the above will not work unless you heat them.

 

I just went thtough this pin and housing replacement. The pins are a harder material than the housing they go in. Dont try to bandaid the issue. Do it right, get a housing and pins. Make it new. Unless you are a machinist, and can do some magic, get ahold of the parts and rebuild it, or you will do it again very soon.
To put new ones in a new housing takes more than pushing with your fingers.
Research/Search my name through steering clumns repairs, and there is plenty of help.
Call Tom Reina, 864 287 9990. He is a Corvette Steering GOD, helped me out significantly, as this is his livelyhood
http://domesticmisfits.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=124

 

I used JB Weld to fix 99% of the slop in my column due to worn pins and housing. I did not have the money nor the time to replace the entire housing and/or column, I found somewhere a "trick" on using JB Weld (you have to be careful or you will "weld" the column in one position -- which might not be such a bad thing) but it worked like a charm for me!

 

If you don't use something "permanent" (no such thing, really, you can always grind/drill it out later if need be) it won't be strong enough to hold...

 

well I never band aid anything but I dont wont to have to pull the column , snake the wires through the column and housing and other things for no good reason. If I knew for sure the housing was bad I wouldnt mind so much but I dont think they are. I'm just thinking to add a little support to the pins to make sure they dont move after they are installed. Everything i,ve found shows that all the wires have to come out at the bottom of the column if you are going to change the housing. If there is another way to change the housing without this process someone let me know. As I look at it the wires have to come out being snaked down the column and out the back .For clarity 1 pin I will have to tap in with a hammer and the other will go in by hand with a little force. If they were both sloppy than I would just go ahead and change the housing but that seems like a lot of time and expense for no good reason as im not really positive they are worn to far. I even went over to some other GM web sites and this is a known problem with all GM/ Saganaw columns. A couple of nice write ups and a lot of people were using "PERMATEX BEARING MOUNT FOR WORN PARTS # 20297. It seems some have used this with great sucess, i'd never heard of it till now but apparently the Permatex product was designed for exactly this type of application. I was surprised that S/10 and Geo's had similar columns but apparently they do. I just hate to replace parts that i'm not sure are bad . And do the PIVOT PINS actually rotate up and down or do they stay in a fixxed position?....G

 

column "rotates" on the pins, so they have to be able to have the housing rotate "around" them. I "fixed" my column with the JB Weld without having to pull it or the wheel, just dropped the column down, it took some minor dash disassembly.

If you're going to replace the housing you pretty much have to pull the wiring through it, there really isn't a way around that.

The Corvette uses the same column as other GM vehicles, the "problem" is/was that the C4 is so low to the ground that many drivers over the years use the top of the steering wheel to assist in exiting the vehicle, which isn't necessary in most other body styles. The column housing wasn't made for that kind of repeated weight force over years thus wearing out prematurely.