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My column losened up at the tilt pivot area. There are 4 reverse-torx bolts that I need to tighten in order to fix the problem.
I got this far and I don't see how to get it apart any more to get the tilt bolts that are lose. I was able to get 1 of them tight as-is, but the other 3 are still lose. What do I do now? Thanks.

 

There are 2 pivot pins you need to pull, one on each side of the column. They have (I think) 8-32 screw threads in them that you can use to pull them out. There is a spring under that round thing toward the lower left, that will shoot itself out at you; it helps to push on that while you pull the pins. Once you get to that point it will be fairly obvious.

 

Thanks.

 

Take a look at this (speaking of cut-'n-paste):

 

I got the pivot pins (#33 on your drawing) out, but the steering column housing still won't come off. Do I have to take the dowel pin (#32) off too? I can't believe that I'm already on day 2 of this thing and it's not even apart yet. I can't wait to try putting this crap together.

 

Nevermind. I just decided for the hell of it that I'd pull the tilt lever, and the whole thing fell right into my hand. Now I just get to look forward to putting this piece of crap back together and hoping that some or all of it works.

 

Jim,

You'll need to disengage the tilt pawl from the sector gear to be able to remove the upper bowl. With the two pins (#33) and the pawl loose, the upper half should basically fall off.

You'll need to get to this point to tighten the screws (after the LocTitie, of course):



EDIT: And when you get there, remove the screws one at a time, apply the LocTite 242, then retorque to 12-15 ft/lb.

 

Jim,

I feel your pain, buddy. I just went through this a few weeks ago when somebody tried to steal my car (VATS wins again!) and busted my actuator rack. What a PITA getting everything apart, huh? Oh, and when I finally got everything back together, I realized I forgot to intall the black threaded pin that holds the key cylinder in place

Oh well, at least I know how to do it faster this time (thanks again, Vader, for all your help).

 

The spring at the bottom of the housing lifts the wheel
after it has been tilted down. Just pull the tilt lever and move
the steering wheel to the upper position. Then push the spring retainer in with a screwdriver and twist it counterclockwise 90*. Then remove the retainer and spring and pull the pivot pins with a small dent puller and an 8-32 machine screw.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. Unfortunately, I didn't go back to the computer until now from when I posted last, so I didn't get to take advantage of the good info. Once I pulled the tilt lever and the piece came down, it was smooth sailing after then. I didn't completely remove everything because I didn't feel like fishing the wiring out through the whole steering column. Once I got the housing loose, I was able to just move it out of the way to get to all 4 bolts. they had backed off over 1/8", so I was able to just squirt some red thread locker on them, then tighten them up. Putting the column back together was a piece of cake. The only problem that I ran into was reinstalling the ring clip that holds the wheel lock wheel into place. The first time I thought I had it, and after the wheel was on it came off and the wheel was moving all over the place. On the 2nd attempt it seemed to work better and everything else went right back into place. The steering column feels brand new now.