Alright, it's another edition of my "Stupid Tilt Steering Question of the Week".

I got everything pulled apart just fine. In last week's episode I was having trouble feeding the big under-dash wire connectors through the tiny opening along the underside of the steering column. Then I realized I could yank out that narrow plastic raceway piece and pretty much double the amount of room under there. After that it was a breeze. (That plastic cable-raceway piece looks like yet another element in GM's "assemble-only" maintenance strategy.)

Anyway, I assume the four bolts indicated in the picture below are what supposedly need tightening, correct? It's the only place I see four bolts. They're described in the tech section as "reverse torx" but they look like regular old hex-head bolts to me.



Assuming that's right, the trouble I have is that the directions say to "tighten the heck out of them"... well that's not very specific. I started tightening them, and it seems that they just keep turning. Could they REALLY loosen themselves so much over time? Since there are four of them, do I have to worry about tightening them all a little bit at a time?

I'm a little concerned that whatever they thread into might be stripped, hence the endless turning. It's hard to see in there, but when I put a light on it, it looks like the bolts are very long, so perhaps they really do need to be turned a bunch.

Anybody care to weigh in with some opinions on this? I'm pretty close to being able to button it up (which should go pretty quickly), but I'd hate to get it back together and find out I didn't tighten them enough to improve anything. On the other hand, I'd hate to strip them out... and if they're already stripped, well... that sucks. LOL

 

And as long as I'm on the subject, the instructions in the Tech area say you shouldn't remove the bolts, as they'll allow a plate to fall back inside the column. Would it be safe to remove the bolts individually, one at a time, to red Loctite them, then reinstall before removing the next one? I would think that with three other bolts still installed, that plate wouldn't be going anywhere...

 

They are stripped if they keep turning,as long as you can get 3 of them tight,youl be ok.What I do,when I fix this problem,is take them out,they are (metric thread)and use LOCK TITE,(RED) on the threads.If they are stripped,take them out ,find a SAE bolt close to the size,a little bigger,and thread it back in,this works for me.And once you get the SAE bolt threaded in,take it back out and use LOCK TITE on it,it should work for you that way.
Just use CAUTION ,when you thread in the new SAE threaded bolt,it can snap off if its too tight,be carful,go slow,thread it in,back it off,thread it in ,back it off,untill it seats and tightens.
----------
Do not take all 4 out at once,do 1 at a time also,reason this happens to GM cars,everybody PULLES on the steering wheel when getting in and out of these cars.

 

Thanks.

Yeah, the clown who "worked on" her car (and the reason I spent this year redoing his engine/trans swap, suspension upgrade, etc) was one of those people who yanked on the wheel getting in and out. Even worse, his habit was to flip the tilt steering up. This always seemed odd to me, since he was skinny (probably a crackhead, by the looks of him).

What do the bolts thread into, metal or plastic? It looks like there is plastic back there behind that cast aluminum part...

 

It is CAST METAL,and Ive seen several people FLIP that steering wheel up FAST,and it ends up breaking everthing .Best way is to pull lever,raise steering wheel slow,and it pro-longs the problem,lol But if you own a 3rd gen fbody ,it will happen someday.Unless you dont have tilt wheel!!!!

 

When I pulled out the bolt, I noticed lots of metal shavings inside -- I think that idiot stripped them out and tried to thread in new bolts. Apparently it didn't work, or I wouldn't be posting here.

The trouble I have now is that the next size up in bolt is actually a pretty large jump. These are, I think, metric M5-0.8 fine, although on my gauge they're also suspiciously close to standard size #10-24 fine-thread.

Also, I think it's the plate in back that is stripped, not the cast aluminum piece. It seems to thread pretty well into and through the front piece, and of course I can't even see the plate in back.

Your closing comment (quoted above) dawned on me last night: are there any good options for converting to a more simple, non-tilt setup? Would it be possible to do this by replacing the upper half of the steering column, for example, or does the whole thing have to be replaced? Or were you just joking about that?

 

NO JOKE,You will have to replace the whole column!!!

 

just do one at a time with loctite, i just did this on my car last summer, took forever but its like a new column as i replaced the entire contents new switches and lock cylinder, it all needed replacing and doing it myself was very rewarding once it was done. P.s. i dont use my steering wheel to get in and out.

 

check the pivot pin holes i have had two different columns that have worn the holes it will seem like the screws are loose but there no i see your screws came loose but check the pivot holes to be sure

 

Actually the pivot pin turned out to be the original major problem, I think. The guy who "fixed" it before me is famously lazy (the motor mounts were finger-tight...) and I think he simply didn't bother to fully press-in one of the pivot pins. It fell out while I was disassembling the whole thing, and it didn't dawn on me that it might be a major part of the problem.

I did manage to run some bolts in there tight enough to hold more or less permanently, and the pins are very, very tight now that they're re-inserted, and it appears to align correctly.

I have other troubles further along in the reassembly (in another thread) but I think the tilt portion is fixed now.