Its Impossible :(

[72tutone]

Steering column... PLease see pics. I cannot get that hole to line up with the clamp. I have tried channel locks to squeeze it together, an allen wrench inside the hole to pull it down...
I'm out of ideas???

[jay6891]

maybe I am missing something. I just removed mine an hour ago and didn't have anything like that to unbolt or line up. Enlighten me on what you are doing.

[Rack Man]

I'm not really sure exactly what I'm looking at either....but here's mine.....That bearing seat is an independant piece and you should be able move it out...you made need to loosen the clamp on the sahft first though....

[72tutone]

OK this orginally started with my shift rod and the column out of whack. This is how I got into this in the first place.

I moved the pictures so that they show upright.

The picture that is showing within the circle, the metal behind the green. This will not move so I can put in the bolt into the thread. So basically the thread hole is now up in the green and I cannot slide that medal piece at all to get to the thread.

So RackMan, your edited picture with the yellow circle. Is that the bearing piece your referring too underneath your blue column?

Mine will not budge at all. Sorry for the crappy pic. Your truck is a bit nicer than mine.

[Rack Man]

Hang on...found a pic


Ok...your bearing seat just needs to be slid back into place.....but its kinda hard because of the tension on the spring and bearing...You can see mine is out of place as well in this pic....

[72tutone]

Yep that is exactly correct. How in the world can you get that bearing to slide down?
WD-40 didnt work, placing a small allen wrench into the hole didnt work. I placed some needle hose on the top in hopes of pushing it down, no dice....

[Rack Man]

Use a drift pin (hardened pointy tool) and use the housing for leverage...just don't damage the threads....also, it kinda looks like your bearing has sucked up into the housing???...maybe I just can't see it good enough??

[72tutone]

Well its alot further down than the pic than what yours was/is. The thread hole does show on mine though. It needs to move down maybe an 1/8 3/16 of an inch down and that should be it. Now when you say use the housing, how do you mean?

[Rack Man]

Just the edge of the slotted hole on the housing...pry against it....even a screwdriver should work......as long as you can see a part of the hole below it should work....

You should be able to do it with a phillips head screwdriver...just jam it into the part of the hole that you can see and pry!



RM

[72tutone]

Thanks I will give it a try. This is quite the PITA of you know what I mean

[72tutone]

Well after giving it a go for a few more hrs, I'm still at the conclusion that I had before. Its impossible. The bearing will spin 360 degrees, but upon trying to pry it down, it will not budge.

So at this point, what are my next steps? Disassemble the column? If so where would I start?

Frustrated beyond belief with this thing.

[Rat Bastid]

buy a used one be done with it

[72tutone]

I dont want to do that, as I think there is nothing wrong with mine. And again short of cash doesnt help either...

I hope I am talking about the same thing as others are, in this thread.

The picture I just attached. Does this metal sheath/bearing, whatever you want to call it have a thread hole in it for the screw correct? If it does then this is what will not move down. As you can see from the pic the "slot" in the column, if you rotate that piece that has to line up with that metal piece/bearing that has the hole for the bolt.

If I need to move the spring to fix this, can I do that?

Or can I loosen up the shaft that would allow me to loosen the tension where I could slide that piece down?

[Rack Man]

Remove the bolts and nuts that hold the steering coupler (rag joint) to the steering box...then loosen the clamp where the steering axle meets up with the lower steering shaft...you should be then be able to pull the whole steering wheel and shaft (from in the cab) out a little bit to relieve the tension on the spring.....



RM

[72tutone]

Do I need to remove the tire to gain access to the rag joint/coupler?

[Rack Man]

Originally Posted by 72tutone

Do I need to remove the tire to gain access to the rag joint/coupler?

Not sure on the two wheel drives....my 4x4 has plenty of access...

[72tutone]

I'll try it. At this point anything is worth looking into.

TO remove the horn button just a screwdriver and such?

[Rack Man]

Can you post a better pic so we can see all what is going on....one like this:

[72tutone]

Yes I will try when I get home. The master booster and such might get in the way, but will try and take some better pics.

[72tutone]

RM,
Looking at your picture, again to clarify the part in question is this, where the arrows are located. Its this outer piece. LOL is that even the bearing? I keep calling it, but I dont want to sound ignorant. But where that bolt is on that clamp there is a hole in that "metal outer piece" where the bolt goes.

[72tutone]

Well its not the best but you can see what Im working with.


The bolt that has the arrow on it. Should I loosen this up?

Would this do anything?

[72tutone]

I removed the nut on the horn as well. I loosened the clamp and this allows me to move the steering wheel, towards me. Now when i move it down to where it cant go any further, the bearing/metal is in the same spot as it is now.

[72tutone]

ttt

[72tutone]

Well in short, problem still persists so I guess I need to take out the column. What is the easiest way to do this? Loosen it up near the steering box? I would like to keep the wheel on if possible as I dont have a puller.

Thanks

[john]

It looks to me like you need to take the intermediate shaft loose like rackmans pic. That should relieve the spring pressure to pull the bearing back in place and get the bolt in.