Loose tilt steering column

[Bill Burgess]

Anyone ever have a tilt column with a lot of up and down play? Mine moves up and down about an inch or so. The tilt still works but My 87 GW has a loose tilt steering column. The tilt works but the assembly the steering wheel is connected to moves up and down about an inch. In other words, if I grab the wheel with 2 hands, the unit moves up and down an inch or so. Not the whole column, just the top part that connects to the column. Anybody ever have this problem? I hate to dig into it and tear it all apart just to find out there is an easy fix. Thanks in advance, Bill from Phoenix

[johnsonic]

Mine was like that as well - this PDF is for a CJ but walks you through the process - was SUPER helpful. You'll need to rent or buy some steering wheel tools if you don't have them:

https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/attachments/f7/4970d1301343927-cj-8-turn-signal-switch-removal-tilt_column_repair.pdf

You will like driving 10x more once it's fixed.

[ShagWagon]

No easy fix. I call it Dante s inferno because there is about 9 levels of hell to go through till you get to the bottom bolts to tighten it up. Be sure to put some lock tite on them so they never come loose again.

[babywag]

You can do 2 of bolts without tearing whole thing down.

http://ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=184911

Well over a year and still nice and tight.

[67GMC]

Just sharing this video from BJs Off-Road. Working on my column tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl-a9lTt9nw

[67GMC]

Replying to my own thread just to report that I did this today. It is time consuming.
I took pictures at each step of the tear down which helped a lot but still had to do it twice before getting it right. If you do it, pay close attention to the bearing race and spring. If you put them on the in the wrong order, everything fits but the steering wheel comes out even looser than it was with the bolts.

All three bolts were essentially loose on mine. The bottom right-most bolt was the worse. The tool for holding the steering plate down is a must to get that ring off the shaft. Also, the pin puller is pretty good. I changed the springs that cancel the signals too while i had them exposed. One wasn't working and the spring had broken so I just switched both out with new. I also didn't have enough slack wiring harness so had to disconnect it at the bottom of the column so I could pull some up. Disconnect your horn relay too to avoid annoying the neighbours (ask me how I know).

The BJs video is good but only shows the dissassembly. I watched some youtube videos on people reassembling GM columns to get it back on right.


Good luck.

[Brynjminjones]

Nice work!

I did the same a couple of years back, and my feedback was exactly the same as yours. I really struggled when I first tried without the correct tools.

Since then, one of my turn signal cancelling springs has snapped too - where did you find a replacement?

[67GMC]

Thanks-Re-assembly is rarely the reverse of removal for me. A few parts extra typically.

For the turn signal cancellers, it's a little spring like object. I found a Dorman part: Dorman 49312 Turn Signal Return Spring, Pack of 2. Ordered from Amazon but probably available in autoparts stores. GM uses the same things in there similar era columns so there should be lots available.

Really nice to have the turn signals cancel after making the turn.

[Brynjminjones]

Thank you! I've just used that part number and found them on RockAuto. I'll grab some next time I place an order.