Tilt column repair

So who designed this darn thing? What a PITA.

I bought a tilt steering column to replace the one that came from my donor, which was the cause of the wreck it was in. Anyhow, I pulled horn button(which I should have done at the JY) only to find no nut holding the wheel on, instead they drilled a hole and put a cotter pin in the threaded shaft. So now I'm looking at repairing the tilt knuckle on the original one. I've seen plenty of write ups, but some of them only tighten two of the four bolts that come loose on the tilt knuckle, while others take the whole thing apart and get all four.

So, how many have done this and what are your thoughts or what did you do? Tips, tricks, etc.. :thumbsup:

:cheers:

It is a PITA to repair. Get yourself a s/m and study up before taking it apart and take your time. You'll need a special puller to remove the pins on the sides of the column and be gentle with it. I broke one puller and had to drill out the broke of piece in the pin :fs1: Tighten all four bolts while your in there and use blue locktite. You'll never want to do it again. Good luck.

deziped knows those columns.. PM him.

I've done it several times. First time I used this link: http://www.buickperformance.com/tiltste ... wobble.htm

The column is identical as all our columns are the saginaw model. The advice about the blue locktite is good, as the care needed with the tilt pin removal.

same here- Ive used the blu locltite on those things maybe 3 times in 200,000- its a real pain,,, but its easy once youve done it twice-

Ive only done the 2 or 3 exposed- never have touched the fourth bolt.

Well, I'm going to give it a shot, but I have a feeling that I'll end up buying another column. :shake: I really don't like to take any chances on things that deal with steering or brakes. :thumbsup:

It is a PITA to repair. Get yourself a s/m and study up before taking it apart and take your time. You'll need a special puller to remove the pins on the sides of the column and be gentle with it. I broke one puller and had to drill out the broke of piece in the pin :fs1: Tighten all four bolts while your in there and use blue locktite. You'll never want to do it again. Good luck.

Yup, got that special tool hanging in my garage still, haven't used it in years. luckily.

Finally took the column apart and fixed it. Wasn't too bad just slow. The column came out of my donor XJ that was said to be the cause of the wreck. Well, I can see how it could have done it. The tilt knuckle was completely loose. 1 of the bolts was all the way out.

The rest were all the way loose just not out of the holes.

Made me a make shift puller for the side pins with a machine screw, washer, nut, and a couple of sockets. Worked great.

Put lock tite on all the bolts for the knuckle and torq'd them down. Put it all back together minus the steering wheel. I have to get a tap and die set to fix the first couple of threads on the steering shaft that the wheel puller screwed up. :shake:

It feels smooth turning with no play in the tilt and since I had it apart, I changed out the key cylinder too. :thumbsup:

mfpdm , nice Tech.Thanks for posting.I have been wondering, on the subject of tilt,can you take parts from a tilt column and add them to an MJ shift column?

Congratulations on completing a very difficult task. Bet you won't want to do it twice!

mfpdm , nice Tech.Thanks for posting.I have been wondering, on the subject of tilt,can you take parts from a tilt column and add them to an MJ shift column?

Not sure. The FSM that I reference while doing this was written for the shift on the column. It just noted what you didn't have to do if you had the non-shifter tilt column. I'm sure some parts would be interchangeable.

Congratulations on completing a very difficult task. Bet you won't want to do it twice!

I didn't want to do it the first time. :brows: However, I'm glad that I did it and gain the knowledge.

I was very pleased with myself and went inside to brag about it, but everyone had already gone to bed. :(

I'm sure the next time it will be a little easier.

:cheers:

Way to go !!! :thumbsup: