wont turn over after small wreck

95 cherokee wont turn over unless key is held in a certain position. I talked to a guy who said something about a rod that is inside the steering column. He said when the jeep wrecked that the rod breaks from the switch inside and acts as a saftey type deal and cuts of everything. he said the rod could be adjustable or he said I would have to switch out the column. Anyone have a clue what Im tlaking about?

yeah, there is a rod that goes from the lock cylinder down to the ignition switch... drop the collumn down and check it out. might just need to be adjusted again.

Like said, there is a rod between the ignition switch the key goes into and some sort of switch mounted lower down on the steering column. I just took my ignition switch out to re-key, there is no where to adjust the rod at the ignition switch or that part of the column.

Most likely, the rod pushes in and out on a switch box mounted lower on the column, there are probably bolts on the switch box lower on the column that you can loosen and move the box closer/tighter to the rod, then re-tighten to adjust it.

A small accident? Hopefully the switch box was loose and the "small" accident just jarred it loose. If the switch box is tight, and the switch box is out of adjustment from the steering column bending/flexing/shifting; then you did NOT have a "small" accident, you had a fairly big accident and the body can be twisted/shifted/bent/out of alignment.

Thanks guys for the help. This jeep is one that a buddy is selling. He bought it off a guy to fix up but soon after he bought it he found a 98 for a good deal. Now he is just trying to get rid of it. Only appears to be cosmetic damage for now but I will have to look into it more. Its only got 140000 on it and its really clean. He is willin to get rid of it for 500 so I think i will just get it and take care of the ignition problem when I get it home. Thanks again for the help!!