InteriorDiscussion about interior restoration, repairs, and modification.
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My steering wheel is a little sloppy as it has some slack in the tilt movement. I asked a mechanic and he said it has something to do with a couple screws inside loosening up and needing to be tightened. He said it required removing the covers and such and getting inside. Does anyone have a diagram or a detailed plan of attack on fixing this?
My steering wheel is a little sloppy as it has some slack in the tilt movement. I asked a mechanic and he said it has something to do with a couple screws inside loosening up and needing to be tightened. He said it required removing the covers and such and getting inside. Does anyone have a diagram or a detailed plan of attack on fixing this?
This is probably not your problem. Loose screws are common in pre 90-92 columns. 90-92 columns tend to have the pivot pin wearing out a hole in the housing causing the tilt to pivot in the 7 o'clock position. Is this your problem?
I agree with onefast91vert. The column in my 91 was junk due to ovaled tilt pins. I tore the whole thing down do the 4 bolt fix and I saw the drivers side tile pin barely in the hole.
Yeah, it tends to sag down towards 7 o'clock. Will other years retrofit? I know I have the vats issue and an airbag. Is there a way around it to use a better, earlier type column?
I took mine to a shop for that & 5 hrs later & $100 poorer & my car as good as new.
He said only ONE of the little bolts was still in there, and even that one was only in by a couple of threads at best. Good thing I failed my inspection & had to get it fixed, or I woulda kept putting it off.
This is probably not your problem. Loose screws are common in pre 90-92 columns. 90-92 columns tend to have the pivot pin wearing out a hole in the housing causing the tilt to pivot in the 7 o'clock position. Is this your problem?
Hi:
I thought replacing the driver's side pivot pin in my 1991 camaro column would fix my problem, but it turns out the pin (hard steel) was fine and just the housing (cheap white metal) was worn out to an oval shape and that's why I had so much play in the steering. The only repair was complete replacement of that particular piece of the tilt column. Good luck finding one in better condition at a wrecking yard. When I phoned GM, the part was about $300 and it is only on the 1991-1992 camaro/firebird model years. When I asked if that part is on any other years/models, I was surprised to find the GM part number cross referenced to a 1994 corsica.
If you are looking for a cheap fix, try locating a 1994 corsica in your area. It may be in better condition. Just be sure to check the two parts side-by-side just in case this is false information since I have not yet verified this.
man I just went through this, my pins were all messed up too, but notbecause of the bolts in the back being loose, the spring holder where the compression spring holds onto the metal piece that the tilt mechanism rests on was busted and laying int he bottom, thus making the tilt pins do all the work, they just worked there way out.
check the spring and its "mount" point, its a little aluminum "nipple thing?" that sticks off of the housing at the 7 oclock position on the back plate, you will need to disasemble it all to check it, if this fails and you dont mind not tilting you can always re assemble everything , pick a reasonable tilt position and epoxy the pins in place, dont use JBweld, that crap is ghetto worse than anything and never sets up correctly, sure beats replacing the entire column
check this post on the complete disasemble, it covers the grant steering wheel install, but under all of that is the complete removal with the air bag junk too,
I had the same problem compounded by bad bearings in the column. Hunted through a few junk yards and couldn't find one without the same problems. Then I came across an earlier tilt column in a firebird '88 or '89 mod. didn't have the airbag or vats but driving what I had was getting downright dangerous had to change a few wireing conectors from the old column and use my old multi-function switch to keep my cruise control but it bolted in. Oh I did use small polishing rolls on a 1/2 drill to ream the ignition hole large enough to accept my vats switch(would not have done that but didn't get the key with the used column, bolted the original wheel back on with airbag (bag doesn't work had to delete the coil under the wheel). You can't really tell it wasn't born in the car and it drives like new.
Oh jeeze, and here I was about to take my steering wheel apart because I read the article on the steering column bolts. Guess I'll just take it to someone if it's that complicated.
ugh! 
