Steering wheel loose

[nickangus]

i got it out finally after fighting w/it for hours on end

thanx for al the help hopfully if i tighten these bolts everthing will be fine

-nick

 

[lawsoncl]

I've just tightened the tilit steering column on my 89 XJ a couple of months back. I've managed to tighten those torx-bolts without unbolting the column from the dash. I've pulled the wheel with rented Autozone steering wheel puller, also used their lockplate compressor to remove the c-clip. I've found that tilting the wheel to the down-most position will allow the mutlfunction plate to clear the steering shaft, so that you can get to assembly below. Also, I've had to purchase a $25 OTC-SPX pivot pin tool to remove the pivot pins. Without this tool, you will have access to only one torx bolt out of 4.

I did mine last year. It was the four torx bolts that were loose. Why the heck didn't Jeep pump locktite on them? I didn't bother with a steering wheel puller or the lockplate compressor. I just pushed down hard with one hard and popped the clip off with a screwdriver.

I didn't need the special pin puller either as a bolt and a large socket worked just fine to pull those pins. I only had one little metal clip leftover at the end (found it sitting under the dash later). I think it was a guide for the ignition rod, but it seems to work just fine with out it.

Total time was about 2-hours going slow and taking pictures. I actually needed to look at the pictures twice putting everything back together.