Pics of steering column swap!

[Hardwareman]

Well I finally found a donor steering column at the local pick-n-pull that actually had the keys to it.

Swap went well, but the donor had bad wiring at the switch so I had to use the switch wiring from the old one. MAN.....talk about night and day difference. This feels like a new truck again!

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The donor is on the left.



Allen

 

[Jspafford]

Why did you swap them?

 

[Hardwareman]

The bearings fell apart in my old one. I was driving and could literally move my steering wheel up and down and side to side a few inches easily.




Allen

 

[baddis]

that could have been tightened up. depends on the style on the difficulty weather it is like a 1st gen or like a gm product.

 

[Hardwareman]

I don't know how I could have tightened up my steering column when the bearings were all over the floor. You need to know what you're saying before you post comments like that. That's the whole reason I will not post up information unless I have experienced it myself, so I don't mislead someone. When I removed my steering wheel the bearings fell out into my driveway. This left me with a steering wheel that was moving all over the place. It's similar to the bearings in say like a motorcylce neck where the forks go through.

For those that remember my ignition going out recently, this is what actually started that problem. The bearings came out and destroyed my key cylinder and when I went to replace the cylinder the bearings were all over the place. I guess I could have welded them in there.....lol




Allen

 

[baddis]

I don't know how I could have tightened up my steering column when the bearings were all over the floor. You need to know what you're saying before you post comments like that.

the bearings can be replaced

That's the whole reason I will not post up information unless I have experienced it myself, so I don't mislead someone.

i have experienced this many times . i have had dozens of columns apart through the years due to the tilt coming loose. and if you are not careful taking them apart you will lose bearings. don't assume that i don't know what i am talking about just because you don't like my answer. i have been turning wrenches on cars for 25 years so i know a little something.

 

[Hardwareman]

Yeah, I guess I did kind of assume you were just guessing. Unfortunately I've also been working on autos/bikes for about 15-20 years myself although not as a means of supporting myself. More as a means of not having the money so I had to learn.

When I removed the steering wheel and air bag mechanism the bearings that go around the shaft all fell out and the race was visibly damaged so I've been driving around for a while like a retard with a VERY wobbly wheel.

I guess I learned the lesson of don't assume anything, which I seem to keep learning from time to time for some reason.....lol. This is not a tilt wheel however and I assume (here I go assuming again) the column just wore from the 350,000 miles on this vehicle ? Anyhow, please forgive for that. I'm not really that bad and I don't bite that hard....hahaha. Later.



Allen

 

[baddis]

basically what probably happened is the little plastic retainer broke letting out the ball bearings. i know there is a source for them other than the dealer but i can't remember where. you think it was bad that way with out tilt try with it and turning and shutting the vehicle off. (extreme case) at first i was afraid to mess inside an airbag column because of fear setting off the bag.