72 steering column shaft

[Rey S.]

Here is my situation. I am replacing my old steering box (P.S. car) with a brand new Borgeson Power steering box. OK fine so far. Does any one know anything about the collapsible steering shaft? Some knowledgeable (?) people say that the shaft can be just shoved up inside the column with no problem and that's were I am running into trouble, my shaft will not budge, I don't want to get crazy with a big hammer or pry bar for fear of damaging things up inside the top end. My car has tilt & telescope But not knowing the full history of the car I can't tell whether or not it is the original column. My shaft is round,splined and contains a dimple and bolt on both side of the rag joint.
Can anyone help with this situation?
Thanks R.
P.S. I just found a recent post by Jim Shea from 12/09/14 on this subject, the drawing he has displayed doesn't resemble my column.

[Tom L.]

Re: 72 steering column shaft

I don't have T/T on my '72 but unless I missed something it isn't a collapsible column. Would have made putting that all together much easier : )

[Joe L.]

Re: 72 steering column shaft

I don't have T/T on my '72 but unless I missed something it isn't a collapsible column. Would have made putting that all together much easier : )

Tom and Rey------


All 1967 and later Corvettes are equipped with an energy-absorbing steering column. The purpose of this column is to "collapse" in the event of a collision. It was NEVER intended to be what amounts to an adjustable length column. It didn't need to be and it wasn't. Of course, when other modifications are made to the car, it might be nice or, even, necessary to adjust the length of the column. But, it was never designed for that and adjusting the length of the column should NEVER be attempted. Essentially, these columns are designed so that in the event of the column "collapse" (i.e. during a collision and to protect the driver from injury), the collapsed components of the column, if not the entire column, needs to be replaced.