Another steering column question (Cavalier)

That would strongly imply that the bottom end of the shaft is broken. There is a u-joint down there or a compression fitting or both. This can happen when folks use a hammer to get a steering wheel off.

The broken part might be under the hood, just in front of the firewall.

Mike

Thanks for the reply. More details:

- No hammering when removing the steering wheel, at least not by me.

- The car was in an accident before we bought it. (Next time, check _before_ buying.) We don't know any details.

- We've had it for 4 years, and steering has been OK, AFAICT.

- Steering is rack-and-pinion. The Chevy book talks about two "pinch bolts" at the end of the shaft. They sound like a pain to get off.

Are you pretty confident that the shaft shouldn't be moving? There really is a lot of travel - over 1.5".

Thanks again, George

As far as I know, you are describing the Saganaw column that GM among others have used for years. This column has no in and out play.

The compression sleeve is there on the lower part to compress when in an accident so the column doesn't impale the driver. Maybe it has been blown and is now just loose? I don't know that this is unsafe loose, but had one break on my old VW. When that one finally totally failed, the steering wheel just spun loose. (different design though)

If it is a bad u-joint on the column, this would be unsafe for sure. You can visually check for this.

The pinch bolts just pinch the column parts together. One is a spline, the pinch bolts are on the socket side. They are easy to remove because you can just turn the column to get at them.

I would do an under hood inspection of the parts. You should be able to see what is moving and if nothing else see where to jam the pry bar to hold it so you can get the lock plate back on.

Mike

George wrote:

"George" wrote

What are you using to re-install the lock plate? It's not abnormal for the shaft to move up and down with the lock plate off. There is a special tool that screws onto the shaft and then presses the lock plate down into position so that you can re-install the lock plate retaining ring. Without that special tool, you need some major strength to be able to hold the shaft up while pushing the lock plate down against the spring that is under the lock plate. A lot more strength then I have!

Ian

I had the tool. The problem was, I had to hold the shaft up, with the spring and lock plate in place, while I slid the lock ring down past where the tool screws onto the shaft. It took all my special-purpose vocabulary, but I did finally get that done. Once I did, stuff went together OK.

I decided the movement in the shaft is normal.

George