wel guys i finally found a steering gear/column to replace my HORRIBLY worn original (280k miles..lol)... but i may have hit a little snag.... the box itself is in great shape and nice and tight , came off a car with just over 70k miles on it, but it was in an accident and the collapsable column is busted. So my dilema is, how do I change either 1.. swap my column to the new box, or 2.. repair the colapsable section and just make it non colapsable? I checked out the FSM and it's not too clear to me if I'll be able to swap shafts easily or if I'll have to disassemble the entire unit to do so....????

 

This subject comes up every so often, wackyrotary has even posted a pic of the clip that breaks and causes the in/out telescoping problem. One solution is to drill a hole through the inner and outer column and install a plastic or aluminum pop rivet.

I have yet to see anyone do this and post thier results though.

 

i thought of another solution possibly too.... I have an aftermarket steering wheel and hub and there's a bit of space were i could pull the column to it's furthest out position and install som washers to take up the slack and then put the nut on the column... what do you think scott?

 

Look in the archives for wacky's pics, that will give you an idea of what you're dealing with. Washers, no, I'd go with a pop rivet instead.

 

Not the pop rivet itself, just the aluminum shank to replace the plastic pins. This way it'll still shear in an accident and not impale you. Theres a full explanation either somewhere on here or maybe over on www.mazspeed.com .

 

This is the clip that usually breaks when you dont use the right tool to remove the steering wheel.

 

i found a post by directfreak describing how to install the pop rivets...sounds easy enough...but I' thinking it'd be even easier if i could remove the black steering shaft cover and actually see what needs to be done... the fsm describes removing the cover for disassembly but it's not very clear anyone have any suggestions?

 

You have to remove the entire assembly which includes removal of the steering wheel, ignition/signal, bracket that holds the steering column to the dash and the tube that covers the steering shaft.