Yes, my 87' Ford let me down!!! Feel like a theif, but how you fix the link?

[OilPatch197]

I was at BK eating one of those new mushroom burgers, disappointed I proceeded to go home. I put the keys in the ignition, and the cylinder would NOT move, the steering wheel was locked, WTF, on my '84 ranger it went thru ignition switches like candy.(the tabs that hold the plastic connector side to the aluminum side will eventually open up and the switch will fall apart)

So I called my Dad, came up, I figured my '87 would be just like my '84. I was wrong, instead of tamper resistant screws, it had tamper resistant torx screws! So like WTF it's 8p.m. in small town America, not even Autozone is open, so I take a new pair of vise grips and clamped down, release, tighten and clamp down, until I got enough bite to turn the screws. Now the actual ignition switch was good, and we still could not turn the key, it was jammed in locked position.
So we tried a little force, we clamped onto that little pin that fits into the ignition switch, and used some modest pressure... yup it's stuck good.

So I just unbolted the aluminuim assembly that houses the lock cylinder, mount bolts for the ignition switch and the upper steering shaft bearing I was able to manuver it out of the way, but it wraps around the shaft, so I will have to remove the steering wheel to pull it off.

I was able to steer and using a screwdriver start the truck.

A few questions:

The upper steering shaft bearing, closest to the wheel, is that a aftermarket part, can I get that at NAPA, or is that likely a dealer only part?

I have a '83 Ranger parts truck, it has the same steering(no tilt) can I sacrafice the goodies and put them into the '87?

Most importantly, how do I take these key cylinder/ upper steering colum bearing assembies apart so I can unjamm the slide that goes from the lock cylinder to the ignition switch inside that assembly?

 

[rangerrager]

I was at BK eating one of those new mushroom burgers, disappointed I proceeded to go home.

hahhahahha im soorry but this made me laugh so hard i dont know if its casue im drunk or not but its funny.lol..thank you for that laugh lol

but i have no idea how to fix your problem,but someone will good luck

 

[OilPatch197]

since the cylinder lock in jammed in "lock" posistion, I shall try to swap the assembly out of the '83 into the '87 and then all that would change is using a different ignition key.

Since I can't get the cylinder into "run" posistion to remove it from that aluminum assembly, wonder how am I to get it apart without breaking it? Report back in a few hours.

 

[mhughes165]

..... lol.....didnt u know that ranger columns sometimes get stuck, u gotta shake the wheel to the left and right while gently shaking the key back and forth, when u hit it just right itll turn, u just caused ur self a giant headache

 

[OilPatch197]

..... lol.....didnt u know that ranger columns sometimes get stuck, u gotta shake the wheel to the left and right while gently shaking the key back and forth, when u hit it just right itll turn, u just caused ur self a giant headache

nope, did that still stuck, I took it off, it is still jammed, pictures comming soon...

I used the steering componets off my parts truck(thank goodness I had spare parts) and got the truck running, now how do I fix this thing?

(and thank you Haynes for telling me jack about this procedure)
Obviously the first step would be to remove the lock cylinder, but I cannot get it out of lock position.

 

[OilPatch197]

Nobody knows how to get the cylinder lock out? Do I need to just mutilate the thing and Tig it back together?!

Where would be the best places to cut to dissect this component?

I really need to know the cause of failure.

 

[MAKG]

It's not that nobody knows.

It's that nobody is going to post detailed instructions about how to steal a Ranger in the forum.

 

[mhughes165]

ya, its easy enough as is that a monkey witha secrew driver set could do it so we dont need to lower that standard for u