Steering shaft issues

[nicholasmansfield]

Hey all,

I have a 69 c10 with a three on the tree. I pulled the steering wheel off to swap steering wheels for a better condition one. While I was doing that I broke a small tab off of my turn signal Switch assembly so I replaced that. The center steering shaft slid down in the tube but I can’t get it pulled up enough to even start the splines in the wheel shaft now.

From under the hood I tried pushing the steering shaft up, but it still comes up at least an inch short with the spring compressed all the way. Any advice? I’m stumped.