Tilt steering wheel loose at column center

Not the steering wheel thats loose but the center portion of the column where it swivels. Has about an inch of loose play both up/down and left/right (at steering wheel). What do I need to repair or replace?

Any special tools required?

Thanks,
Ken

Yes. I haven't done this repair with an airbag equipped vehicle but the not normal tools I needed were:

Steering Wheel Puller (a Harmonic Balancer puller will work)
Steering Lock Plate depressor
Tilt Pivot Pin Puller ( a small grade 8 bolt, nut washer and socket good be used for this.

When I worked as a GM tech 20 years ago this job took about 45 minutes, the last one I did several years ago took me close to 3 hours as I had forgotten some of the tricks/ short cuts. It's been a long time since I explained this on this forum but I'll give an attempt.

NON AIR BAG EQUIPPED VEHICLE
There are four bolts retaining a pivot yoke doen in the column below the shift collar.

Disconnect battery.
Remove horn pad.
Remove snap ring and loosen steering wheel retaining nut so there is a good size gap between the nut and steering wheel.
Install steering wheel puller, start removing wheel with steady pressure.
AFTER wheel pops free, remove nut and steering wheel.
Install lock ring plate depressing tool and remove snap ring. The lock ring plate is spring loaded!
slowly back off deprosser tool unloading spring.
Remove tool and plate.
Next remove horn contact by sliding up off of shaft.
Remove the turn signal lever and Hazard knob.
There are three screws holding the turn signal switch on, reach under dash and disconnect the electircal connector for the turn signal switch. Slide the switch up just enough to move over shaft.
DO NOT PULL ALL THE WAY OUT OF THE COLUMN.
There is either a push pin or screw holding the ignition lock cylinder in place. Remove the lock cylinder.
There is a white plastic piece with two copper contacts visible, this is the key alarm. Remove the alarm and the spring steel retainer.
The column bowl is next, 3 or 4 large screws and slide up and out of the way, if you're doing this job correctly you need to push the turn signal switch back into the bowl to get enough wire harness slack to lift bowl over end of shaft.
you MAY ne able to access the screws now, use a 1/4 drive swivel socket and 6-8" extension. I believe the bolt heads are 1/4" also.

Tighten the four screws and re install everything but the lock cylinder in reverse order. When installing ign lock cylinder put a dab of white grease on the little plastic nip that hangs down, use the grease to hold the nip in the retracted position. Ins tall the lock cyl 1st andthen the alarm contact and springclip as a unit.

If you can't access all four of the loose screws then you need to continue to remove things.

There are two pins that are 180 degrees apart and are what the tilt pivots on. They are about 3/8" diameter and have a threaded hole down the center.
These need to be removed, the snap-on special tool cost $8.50 twenty years ago. I have read where some one has used a small bolt, socket and nut to pull these out. your call.
After these pins are out, Pull the tilt lever and VERY Carefully work the tilt bowl up. If you are not careful the balls in the bearings will pop out of the plastic retainers. There are two bearings an upr and lwr.
With this part loose you should have full access to the four loose bolts.

The problem is now getting this part back on. The lock cylinder linkage and sector shaft (goes from lock cylinder to a gear that meshes/drives the rack) need to be realigned and timed. I am not sure I have a good explanation of how to do this. I would remove the sector gear and get the bowl back on, pins knocked back in with a plastic hammer and then install the gear. the actuating rack is sprung loaded with an arched spring steel clip to keep tension between the rack and sector gear.

Then install the rest in reverse order as stated above.

Good Luck,
Tom

Thanks! Sounds like quite a job! Think I may print out your instructions and enlist some help.

Much appreciated,
Ken

Here's a link I used for the repair of my 91 tilt column. It's a good write up with great picks.

http://elcaminocentral.com/article95.html

OH Shoot!!!

Danger Will Robinson,

I forgot that large assss spring at the bottom of the tilt bowl. Be careful.

Good write up and photos. Follow those directions.

Tom

And the cost to have this done would be? lol

Thanks all!

I gotta admit it was kinda intimidating. Had I not had the pics It would of been pretty difficult. At least with the write up and pics, when I forgot how something came apart it was right there for me. If you have a Harbor Freight or Autozone nearby you can pick up the puller and plate remover for a little over $20. And don't forget the picks HF sells a set for $2. makes getting the spring out much easier.

Go for it, just give yourself an afternoon to do it. Good luck!

I had to do the same for my '91. When I got it apart, the bottom nut (reverse #8 Torx) with just sitting in the bottom of the housing. IT had come completly out of the hole. I would assume this is from allowing the tilt mech to slam the wheel to an upright position. I too used the above link to fix it. Easy to follow steps. The wiper arm was a little tricky though.
Hoddie.

I just had to do mine -- I tried building a pivot pin puller but it didn't work out. I ended up tightening the lower two bolts as a temporary fix and ordered the puller. Will tear into it again next weekend. It's really not that bad of a job. I used the el-camino links myself. I ordered the Snap On pivot pin puller -- it was 19$ with free shipping direct from their website. Part #cj134 While you are in there, it might be a good time to change out your lock cylinder -- my last one locked up without warning one day with the jeep running.

Good luck!

Matthew

Umm guys if he has a air bag model he has to disengage both battery supplies before messing with it or BOOM. Id suggest unless you have a fsm you take it to someone who does

dzraces,

You are correct about an airbag warning. That is why I stated a disclaimer / warning 2-3 times in my post. His public profile indicates a 1990 so he should be fine.

Tom

dzraces said:

Umm guys if he has a air bag model he has to disengage both battery supplies before messing with it or BOOM. Id suggest unless you have a fsm you take it to someone who does

Click to expand...

No airbag thank goodness!

I had this on my '89, and had a technician tighten the nuts and bolts. If you have the right tools, you can do it yourself.