I know tilt wheels sometimes get loose and you need to open em up to tighten the 4 bolts down. However, before I open it up, I want to check and make sure it's just loose bolts. Most people say the entire wheel is jiggly up/down/whatever when it's loose. Mine isn't like that. For years now, you can pull the wheel to the lower left only. The tilt works and locks in any position, but no matter where it's locked, you can pull the wheel down to the lower left. You can't pull it left/right/up/down/any other corner when it's lcoked. It does spring back up when you let go and it is remains in it's locked position while you're pulling it down.

It almost seems like something would be physically broken in there to cause it to pull down as far as it does and only in one direction. Of course this could be just loose bolts but I did want to make sure before I spent a lot of time pulling it apart. It almost makes me think whatever locks it in place on the left/lower side is broken or missing while the right side is fine. I just can't see how a loose bolt could cause it to pull down as far as it does.

As a theory, I get the feeling that if the spring mechanism pushed the tilt wheel down instead of up when you pull the lever, in a locked position the wheel would hang/be pushed down on a left corner angle but since the locking mechanism's top section isn't broken, the spring mechanism holds it in place since it's pushing up on the good half. It actually seems somewhat logical as when many people get out of their car, they lean hard on the steering wheel, especially on such a low to the ground car, to get out and stand up. If it is broken that is, it could explain how it got that way.

 

What`s the latest on your tilt wheel?

 

Still the same. I haven't touched it yet. Been this same exact way since i got it in 2002, so unless there's a need I'm not gonna touch it, lol.

 

I had a '92 RS that did the exact same thing, never got worse but I don't hang on the wheel either. It's my brother's car now and he wants it fixed, so I'll find out if it's just the screws in the near future.

 

I have the same problem with my column. I found a magazine article that went through the process of tightening the srcews to "tighten the column up" in a good amount of detail, I also had to replace my ignition lock cylinder anyway, so I gave it a shot... Needless to say, it didn't change a thing.

I believe you are right about something breaking due to people pulling/pushing down on the wheel to get in and out of the car. I can only imagine some plastic part cracked, but it is deeper in the column than the screws recommended to tighten.

If anyone wants the magazine article for other problems, I can try to dig it up, I also took pictures of the dissasembly process to help me when I put it back together. With the pictures and magazine art., it is plenty of info to take the column apart and back together again, just not deep enough to get to the "broken" part.

 

'91 RS, same thing. lol It would actually pull down far enough to latch it ino a lower position.

 

i have an iroc and it does the same thing. when i bought it 4 months ago the guy said that it was just loose bolts and he said just pull the wheel off and tighten them. it probably is not that easy though hahah.

 

91' rs same thing.

Basically, theres 2 pins that are slightly tapered that press in from the part that tilts, to the part thats stationary, it gets rounded out n both parts and the pins get loose because of people who used to own my car think the steering wheel is there for them to pull themselves out of the car.

BTW: Mine pushes down to the lower left too. My buddies 87 bird does too, my buddies 94 z does too, my buddies 89 iroc does too..

Mines so bad my brights dont work now.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ck#post3451256

This will fix 99% of the problems with the tilt mechanism. The remaining 1% are likely bearing/race issues-probably from being loose too long.

 

My 92 is the same way, lower left. To turn highbeams on you have to pull it down.

 

Yeah, thats exactly what was wrong with mine. I ended up just drilling all the pin holes out to accept a (3/8"? o.d. 1/4" i.d.) bronze sleeve bearing which I cut to length and pressed into each hole. Then I used a 1/4" clevis pin in the bearings. Its kind of hard to explain, but I basically made a new "pin guide" out of these sleeve bearings. It took out all but maybe a 1/4" of the slack (at the wheel). I hope it holds up, I don't know how much or if the bronze is softer than the cheap metal that the column joint is made of...

 

i have the same problem with my '89 iroc. i had someone tighten it and 3yrs later it became loose again.i also had the same problem with my '81 z28 and the column broke while i was make a quick left hand turn and almost wrecked.

 

90 iroc, same problem, down and to the left, im just going to buy a tilt column from a car that didnt have that problem. Started trying to open mine up and something popped out of the turn signal mechanism :S so thats kinda broken now lol.

 

This may be a little off-topic, and noobish, but, ive had 2 camaros now, and cant find out how to turn the high beams on, I have an 84 Z28, can anyone help me with this? Just seems like it should be so obvious.....

 

High beam switch is under the dash in the rear of the column. There is a metal rod that runs up through the column that engages the high beam switch when the turn signal lever is pulled. When the column gets loose this rod will usually loose contact with the cam/lever or slack will develop between the cam/lever and the rod end, resulting in improper, or no, engagement of the high beam switch.

Pull the hush panel off and you should be able to find the switch by looking for the rod. Chances are the switch works fine.