I went to take apart my steering wheel column to tighten it up and got down to the pivot pins and apparently someone else had tried to do this and the left pivot pin had a screw broken off flush inside. I was able to easily remove the right one.

Being that pivot pins are made out of exceptionally strong material, I am unsure how "easy" it will be to self tap and heliocoil it.

Any suggestions, short of the above or maybe welding it and prying it out? I purchased 2 new OEM pivot pins in case I destroy this one.

Thanks!

 

Get all the tension off of it, ie remove the tilt spring if you haven't already. Then usually you can practically pull them out by hand, especially if they're well worn. I can't remember the last time I needed the tool to get em out. Try running the tilt up and down and look for the place where the pin seems loose. A strong rare earth magnet might be enough pull to get it out. Could use a stud welder to tack a pin to it, and pull it with a slide hammer. Or drill a hole, run a self tapping bolt into it, and use the bolt to pull it.

 

Thanks, the right pin was really tight, took pulling it all the way with the pivot pin to get it out. I will try again tomorrow if I have time and see if wiggling it around. Will definitely try a strong magnet.

 

Can you get behind it? I haven't taken a column apart in a log time, so I can't remember. But if there is access, maybe you can use a long drift or a punch to knock it out from the back side.

 

If I remember right the pin is soft metal, drilling out the broken bolt would be a tougher metal to drill. The pins usually have a slight press fit, that's why there's a puller tool to remove. I would die ground or drill the center of the bolt enough to center a bit and drill till the the pin is thin enough to get out.
JOE

 

Same thing happened to me. Couldn't drill out the broken bolt because it was too hard. Welded a washer to the pin and popped it out.

 

I would drill into the bolt stuck into the pivot pin and use an extractor, the bolt shouldn’t be too tight , if that doesn’t do it then drill into the bolt anyways and use a slide hammer and replace that pin, make sure you keep the whole assembly straight not tilted !

 

Pat, with all due respect to your trying to help, this thread is close to 3 years old so I'm sure by now the OP has it handled, and the info you posted was all posted three years ago anyway.

In the future you may want to check the date of the last post in any threads you reply to, so as to not be bumping dead threads.......