broke my tilt

Hello, I have a 1987 Jeep Cherokee Laredo. I have a habit of pulling on the steering wheel when I get in the jeep. Today I got in and as usual pulled on the steering wheel and heard a snap.:doh: Now my tilt is not locked and freely moves up and down. I see lots of information on the wobble these gm columns get, but I'm not finding much on the tilt mechanism. Does anyone know what piece I likely broke? Can i get that piece or do I need a whole new column?

It would probably be cheapest and easiest just to find a used one at a junk yard and swap it out. You can do that with minimal tools. Pulling a column apart requires a couple of special tools and can be a royal pain. The tools are not expensive and can be had from Harbor Freight or via the loaner program at Autozone, but you most likely broke an aluminum cast cradle inside and replacements are virtually impossible to buy.

Thank you for your reply. I've watched a few videos on fixing the wobble on these columns and saw how it comes apart. It doesn't look fun. But I didn't see how the tilt actually functions. If it is part of the casting that broke then swapping the column is probably my best option.

I had to do this to my '88. You can "rent" the steering wheel tools from Autozone (I just bought them).

I did not pull the pivot pins out so I was only able to get to 3 of the screws. I did locktite them and wrench them down tightly. No more wobble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ-koHkpECI

You may just have a bunch of loose screwsconfused1, but you implied it happened all of the sudden, which leads me to think it was the casting that broke, not screws. You would have had to have pretty much all of them (4) go from tight to rotating a dozen turns and come out exactly at the same time...not likely.

No I don't believe it is the 4 screws that is the problem. My column was actually pretty tight before the incident. It doesn't wobble left and right. I have seen these columns when they loosen up. This is like the tilt lever is pulled in and isn't catching. Pretty sure I broke something. There was a snap and it let go. I'm just not familiar with what the mechanism looks like. I imagine there is some kind of gear catches for the different tilt positions. So I wasn't sure if what broke was a part that I could find and replace or if I was in for a whole column change. I won't have a day off until Thursday. I will probably take it apart to look and see what happened then. I have a puller that should work for the steering wheel but I'll have to rent the tools for the lock plate and pivot pins.