Eric-

Good afternoon all, and Happy New Year!

I'm hoping to get an education on steering columns and the repair of.
My steering column moves up and down, not terribly, but enough that I want to repair it.
I've checked the obvious, bolts under the dash.
When you hold the steering wheel you can move the upper portion up and down. I suppose it may have been used to many times to get in and out of the car, I don't know.
My car is a 73, auto 350. The steering wheel is a tilt/tele.
I appreciate any help I can get on what the problem may be and how to address it!

Thank you.
Eric

REDONBLACK69

My only advice is that you follow the "mandatory installation sequence" that can be found in the factory production manual for your '73.
I believe it's also in the Chassis Rebuilding Manual for the '73.
I recently had Mike Denapole restore my '69 column, and since it's a safety device, I'm surely going to follow the mandatory sequence to a T.

corvgreg

The column usually is loose due to 2 reasons:

Tilt knuckle bolts(4) have loosened and need to be retorqued

The tilt knuckle and/or lock housing pivot pin holes are enlarged. Usually just the left side. Oversize pivot pin can be used.

Greg

stingr69

The column uses 3 brackets to mount it. The middle bracket is adjustable to set the "up and down" position. It is a wedge so it can be moved forward and backwards to raise or lower the column position. I bet yours is loose.

Eric-

I did not know of this! Interesting, I’ll need to investigate this today. 👍

I watched a couple videos of tearing down the column, looks a bit like a nightmare.

bazza77

This is probably what's wrong with yours , especially as you say its just the upper section . Good news is ,if it's just the 4 bolts loose , its just some locktight and a re-tighten , unfortunately its almost a full pull down to get at it ..

yyz1970

Doing the same repair on my 72
Check out Camaro rick on youtube
video helped me alot

bazza77

that's a nice original looking column , as you don't see the little dust shields very often

yyz1970

just a little loose
6-12 o'clock
haven't got to the large screws yet
have to remove the pivot pins I think?
Not sure if I can with the column still in car?

bazza77

I gotta ask why the lock pin is jammed in there ?

The 4 big screws hold an alloy block solid to the lower tube , that's the alloy block that has the holes that the tilt pins seat into . Looks like you have to take out the LARGE tilt compensation spring next ,levers and that lock pin again ! then the tilt pins , then watch all the bearings fall out while you remove the lower housing section. There's two small sleeves that fit over the top bearing one solid and one split , they can bind up on the way out and when it goes back together ( when you have the tool on the lock plate , trying to get the big C clip back on so watch for that ) Never tried to go that deep while in a car , I imagine the original bearings will give you hell ,(the modern ones from Zip have a better cage that holds everything together nicely )

Once that big tilt spring is out you should be able to work out what's loose anyway.