Anybody know how to loosen the shaft so it will travel up/down easier? It does move but very hard.
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Re: telescoping steering wheel on 67
Yes,
67 and early 68 are the same column for the most part. I completely rebuilt a 68 that came out very nice and functions perfectly.
If the column has never been apart then it has reason to be stiff. It may be all dried out inside or maybe it has been apart and not put back together right or maybe it is broken. But, you can attempt some things without major surgery and if they don't work, you are no worse off.
I would try a couple of things: 1) Carefully remove the upper column cover (not difficult). This will expose the upper portion of the column mast jacket and the inner column sleeve that slides up and down inside the mast jacket. Loosen the lock ring and slide the wheel as far up as it will possibly go. Clean the sleeve and apply a "thin/light" coat of lithium grease. Job done.
2) Remove the horn button and expose the star bolt. There should be two screws securing the position of the star bolt. With a felt tip pen mark there position and remove the screws. Then, unscrew the star bolt. Inside there is a rod. If you can fish the rod out of there that would be great. Remove the rod, clean it and coat it with lithium grease. In the bottom of the hole that the rod slides into is a locking devise. If you can cram some lithium grease down to it, that would be great. With the rod and star bolt removed the column sleeve should slide very easily. If is dosn't then that probably indicates other problems. If it slided nicely, you are in luck. 3) The star bolt may not be adjusted correctly. The star bolt controls the locking mechanism at the bottom of the rod inside the steering column shaft). You will notice that there are several positions that the star bolt can be set to. Mark the position of the small screws on the star bolt. Remove the screws and back the lock ring off one position (turn to the right in relationship to the star bolt) and insert the screws. Tighten the lock ring and loosen the lock ring and attempt to slide the column up and down. The lock ring has stops that prevent it from being tightened too far or loosened too far. You want to be able to tighten it just enough to prevent the column from sliding durning driving the car. When loosening the lock ring, you want it to become loose enough to allow you to slide the column. It is a little bit of a balancing act.
4) There are plastic rings inside the mast jacket that the column sleeve slides up and down on. There is one ring at the top of the mast jacket and one about a third of the way down the mast jacket. They are very fragile. If you do any dissasembly of the the jacket watch for any remnents of them. When the colum is well lubed, they survive very well. When people use petroleum grease or oil on the column they get sticky and will break. They have little tits on them that hold them in place and keep them from sliding out of place. When too much friction/lateral force is applied to them the tits break off and the plastic sleeve slides out of place and can bind things up. When doing a column dissasembly just remember to save any of the pieces to them that you may find no matter how small because YOU CAN SUPER GLUE THEM BACK TOGETHER IF NOT BADLY DAMAGED. They need to be cleaned of any grease and bone dry before super gluing.
Taking a colum apart is not that easy to do without breaking things. Those plastic rings are like hens teeth. Just sliding a stiff upper sleeve out of the mast jacket is all it takes to break one and cause grief.
Back to the begining....I would just clean and lube the column sleeve and check the star bolt adjustment. You will only be able to lube the upper part of the sleeve but that is better than taking it completely apart. Good luck, Terry -
Re: telescoping steering wheel on 67 *NM*
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Re: telescoping steering wheel on 67
Thanks for the thorough response Terry. I will print it out to guide me. DonComment
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Re: telescoping steering wheel on 67
Just be careful and go slowly. The plastic ring that covers the upper column is very fragile. If your car is original, finding original replacement parts is tough to do. I cringe when I break such an item by accident. The screw holes in the plastic can only take a little torque and sometimes a chunk of plastic comes out with them. I save a lot of that stuff to use as donors to make small unseeable repairs. If for any reason you pull the column to completely take it apart, be very careful. You will need a manual and its marginally clear on taking it apart. Take care, TerryComment
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