Hey everyone. I'm about at the end of my rope with my 91 formula right now. I cannot for the life of me get the loose wheel fixed. the pivot pin was VERY loose. I wiggled the steering wheel, and the pin literally fell out. When I stuck the pin back in, the key wouldn't turn in the ignition anymore! took the pin back out, key turned, but wouldn't start the car. I have to pull the wheel down to the 7 0'clock position to get it to even start the car anymore. It also seems to be affecting the fuse for my brake lights, because as soon as I started the car and stepped on the brakes, it shorted the fuse. I had a parts car(92 base firebird), so I decided to say screw it and I would try pulling that column. left pivot pin was crazy loose as well, and wheel was loose too! wiggled the column a couple times and I was able to pull the pin out by hand. I've been doing some searching, and I've been seeing that this is a common problem for my year of car. the hole that the pin goes into gets ovaled or something like that? I guess what I want to know is, is there any way to fix this, short of buying a new column that isn't already loose? can you buy that part, or repair the hole, anything like that??? I can't believe both the columns I want to use are loose like this, and I'm really at a loss with what to do right now. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I do have the column out of the 92 now, and I disassembled it to see if it has any loose bolts under the tilt. They are very tight so I'm pretty sure the only problem is the pivot pins. I just don't know where to go from here. I just sold my other car, only to find out that I cant even drive my formula till I get this fixed.

 

Maybe something below will be useful:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...-steering.html

JamesC

 

naw, I've got down to those bolts, and they are all tight. bearings look to be in fairly good shape too. any idea about those tilt pin holes? I think they are probably the problem.

 

Fire birds are notorious for that,I replaced the whole column,it was easier.

 

You say that is if the Firebirds use a different column than the Camaros.

 

I don't know about Camaros,I know the Fire birds do.

 

well, I decided there's nothing else I can do to fix this, so I took it to a shop. Quoted me $100 to disassemble, repair, and reassemble with my aftermarket steering wheel installed. If I knew it would be so damn cheap, I wouldn't have wasted my time tearing it apart myself.
Although I suppose it remains to be seen whether or not they do good work. never tried them before, but I saw a couple people recommending them on here so I figured I would give em a shot. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

 

well, they told me a couple days originally, but now are saying won't be ready until mid next week. Kinda disappointed but if they get it fixed, I won't be complaining too much lol.

 

100 bux to do all that? wow. Wonder what its guna cost you in parts to have your broken stuff fixed...
All GM steering shafts built like these suffer the same problem(s).

 

That $100 actually included labor AND parts. I couldn't believe it. granted, it sounds like they will be used parts that the shop keeps around, but for that price, as long as it works I couldn't care less. the metal part that the tilt pins slide into and has those 4 bolts in that everyone talks about when fixing a sloppy column would cost around $380 from GM.

 

well I got the column back yesterday. finally. took them over 2 weeks to do it, but the wheel was extremely tight and felt great. unfortunately, I think the rack that the ignition actuator rod attaches to is screwed up as well. had trouble with the rod coming loose, so after a couple hrs of cussing and swearing, I took it back out of the car, and took it back to em today. I just wanna drive my car! lol.

 

That rack cracked on my 84 some years ago & when the wheel was tilted downwards the actuator rod would not engage properly & thus, no start.I thouht it was the switch until i took the covers off & noticed the crack.Took it out, fix it & has worked fine since.

 

just found the gm part number for the tilt pin housing 26017468 I ordered one for 200 will include all parts to fix the worn out tilt pin holes on my b4c its hard to find a good 90-92 column and with the new parts it should be a easy fix