so, I went to turn left the other day and the stick just flopped to the bottom of the case. I pulled the wheel off and finally got the lock plate off only to find that there's some bracket that holds the stick to the turn signal switch that I've managed to shear somehow. In the picture, the blue line indicates where the "lever" side of this piece is, it definitely moves with the lever. the red line indicates the part that's still attached to the turn signal switch itself.

The problem I've come to realize is that no one at any of the parts stores seems to carry the switch (just the cancelling cam, which is intact), I can't imagine that they'd carry that little bracket, but perhaps someone here can tell me that they do and assuage these fears. I also have no idea how the heck to get at that side of the lever as it's inside the case where it bubbles out.

 

What i did when my turn signal lever and the piece in back of it was broken was to replace the whole colum. I found one on ebay for forty bucks. I tried to fix this but was to hard to track down all the parts. Mine was broken by some amature thief. All i did was change over my ignition lock and install. Whole lot easier in my opinion.

 

I think I'd agree. I need to go junkyard diving for a new wiper harness so I'm going to look for parts I guess.

maybe it's time to dust off the '86 berlinetta dash I have in the attic. it's got the flasher controls on the dash.

 

Junkyard diving is always a pleasant diversion. But if you can't find
what you need there, Classic Industries has a very good supply of
this kind of stuff. And don't forget sponsors like HawksThirdgenParts.

 

Cannibalizing a junkyard steering column for that part would be easier than shooting fish in a barrel. In fact, I've got the exact piece you need in my original, broken 89 steering column that's taking up space in my garage. I'll ship you whatever parts you need to fix yours for a few bucks if you want. Just send me a PM. BTW, that part is actually really easy to change once you have the lockplate removed.

 

anyone have a PN for this piece?

 

I looked in my original 1989 Parts and Illustrations Catalog and found 2 part numbers for that piece. The 2 numbers are 7843400 and 7842614. Chances are those part numbers are probably obsolete by now, but if you give them to the parts counter guy at a Chevy dealership, they can probably cross-reference it to whatever the updated part# is. Hope this helps. Btw, I still have an extra one of those in a junk column that I use for parts if you'd like a used one.

 

Thanks Pat. I was helping a friend whose piece broke. He let me drive his Porsche last time he was in town.

Your info, googled to death gave me "ARM,DIRECTIONAL SIGNAL " which, googled to death turned up an aftermarket vendor with tilt and non-tilt versions.http://www.steeringcolumnservices.co...-with-tilt.php

Hopefully that helps someone in the future.

 

Yeah my "parts" column is actually the original steering column out of mine. I was trying to remove the steering wheel one day, and was too lazy to go get my steering wheel puller, so I bear-hugged the wheel and pulled with all my might. I guess I didn't know my own strength because all of a sudden I heard a loud POP! and I actually broke the main housing of the column! Luckily one of the local yards had a perfect column in an 87 Iroc that even still had the original GM key in the ignition! He only charged me $75 for it too. Don't know if the previous owner of that car ever had the column worked on, but even the infamous tilt knuckle that always gets loose was still perfectly tight! I've kept my original broken one around for whenever I need to cannibalize it for any parts.

 

:LMAO: You bear hugged the wheel and you hard a POP! What did you expect to happen. LOL

 

Yeah Pat, here's how it goes in my experience:

Had a rare steering wheel in a car we were building but the prior owner had driven into something and his chest / head hit the steering wheel / windshield respectively. I told my friend he should use that wheel instead of a different one and I proceeded to straighten it. Until the column went cRRACK. D'oh!

Then, the last time I was adjusting the front wheels of my car in the driveway to move cars around a little without starting them, I turned the wheel without starting the car. A few times of that resulted in steering that turned left but not right. Right involved a loud ticking noise in the steering box. Took the box to the local rebuilder and when they were done, I asked what was damaged when I brought it in. He said nothing; looked fine.

Cars...

 

Oh yeah, believe me I know! It was pure stupidity and laziness on my part. Lol. The reason I was tearing the column down at the time was the infamous problem of the tilt knuckle getting loose. I hate fixing that problem cause you have to tear apart almost the entire column to get to those damn screws! I guess it worked out ok in the end though. For $75 I got a nice, tight one from the junkyard that even had the original GM key in it! I'm willing to bet the previous owner of that car probably had the tilt knuckle re-tightened at some point. When I fix one, I use red loctite on the screws and tighten the **** out of them. That usually fixes them for good!