Steering column help!!!!

So got a replacement steering column today. I am trying to put it back it, and I can't seem to get all the actuators bolted back onto the side of the tilt column. What I mean by actuators is the high/low beam switch etc. I am putting it back together how I though I took it apart. After fighting for it for abouthalf an hour, thought I would just come on here and ask. So I would like to know if someone has a picture or something that will show me how those things are supposed to go. This is the first time I have ever have changed out a steering column and it is being very very difficult. Hope someone can help cause it is really irritating me!! Please let me know any useful info, I really need the help!

Thanks in advance!!

anybody????

What year is the Jeep, and what year did the replacement come from?

Have a pic of the issue your experiencing? Sounds like you cant get the light switch bolted to the column and the rod inside it? It's been awhile since i swapped a column.

My Jeep is an 89'. Not sure of the year of the steering colum. You are exactly right. It seems when I put the rod in there, and put it where "i think" it goes, it just doesn't seem to be fitting right!!

Can you please take pictures of everything? I am asking for 2 reasons... It will help others guide you right now, and more importantly, after you finish you can post a thread with all of your work, as a guide to help others (like me) who need to do the same replacement in the future.

Good luck!!!

Thanks, I hope you can do a writeup with pics to help us too!

Here is a link , I have done a few , not a walk in the park ...http://elcaminocentral.com/article95.html

im having problems too. steering columns are a PITA.

Thanks for the link.. Mine is on it's way to me right now. Not looking forward to it, but swapping the whole thing should be easier than ripping the old one apart and trying to replace the small broken parts. How's your swap coming along?

I swapped mine out a few months ago, and I actually thought it wasn't too bad. And that's coming from somebody who struggles with a lot of the stuff that other people on this board say is easy. Maybe I got lucky. I did think, while doing it, that it would be very easy to mess up the wiring because many of the connectors seem kind of fragile but take a good deal of force to remove (on an old jeep, anyway). But once I got everything hooked back up, everything worked right the first time.

I got a few pictures, posted below, but unfortunately I didn't do as good a job documenting it as I had intended. I ran short of time so I had to just finish the job.

Basically, all the wiring that goes to the steering column runs through connectors that pull apart, and no two are alike. So putting it back together is just a jigsaw puzzle. There is one connector, I recall, that has 2 or maybe 3 pieces that nest in each other and fit into one socket. Other than that, it's one for one. Two pictures below show the wires with everything connected, and one picture shows them disconnected.

The hardest part for me was figuring out how to disconnect the column. I could barely reach the bolts on the front of the column, under the brake master cylinder, where the instructions I had said to disconnect it. Then I got the idea to take out the airbox, and disconnect the column one link further down the chain, and that proved to be very easy. The first picture below shows the front of the column with the air box removed.

The pictures are very busy with all the wiring and stuff going on, but if you're in the middle of the job and have specific questions, hopefully you'll be able to find the part you have in question. Feel free to ask specific questions and I'll answer in more detail if I'm able. I also have more pictures I can look at, but I think the ones below show pretty much everything the others show. One major thing I didn't get, regretfully, was pictures of the top of the column, the part that bolts up out of sight when installed.

Pictures to follow in next post.

Disconnect column under airbox:




Here's how the wiring should look when done:



Another view:



And here's the space with everything disconnected and the column removed:

92xjsp said:

Disconnect column under airbox:

Here's how the wiring should look when done:

Another view:

And here's the space with everything disconnected and the column removed:

Click to expand...

he's assking about assembly of the columm not removal. good effort though.

tigerShark said:

he's assking about assembly of the columm not removal. good effort though.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I knew he asking about assembly, although I can't tell from his post which part of the process he's stuck on. I figured it was most likely how the electrical stuff connects, so I provided the best pics I had of things as they were when hooked up. I know the pics are far from ideal, but it's the best I have.

Also another guy said he was planning to do this soon, so I added the part about removing the air box and disconnecting there.

89cherokeexj said:

... I can't seem to get all the actuators bolted back onto the side of the tilt column. What I mean by actuators is the high/low beam switch etc. ...

Click to expand...

If you're still having trouble, explain this more to me - this is the part I don't understand. Now that I read it again, I'm wondering if you got a full column or a stripped-down one. The one got from the junkyard (for $125, by the way) had all the electronics attached and bolted in place. All I had to do was unplug the connectors and re-plug into the new ones - no bolting or assembly of the high/low beam switch, that's built into the turn signal.

REPOXP777 said:

Here is a link , I have done a few , not a walk in the park ...http://elcaminocentral.com/article95.html

Click to expand...

the link here should have all the info you need.