Progress stopped:-( Free money

I could tell you that the only thing holding that shaft where it is, is a couple of little nylon pins, and that if you smack the column vertically on a cement floor, the pins will shear allowing you to re-position that shaft to anywhere you need it to be. You will, of course be that same distance closer to being skewered, if involved in a front end collision,at speed. But you didn't hear that from me.
I suppose the upper bearing, theoretically could be damaged during this procedure, but mine survived just fine, and 16 years later, it is still in there.
What you would hear is that if you need to cut the shaft, you might consider cutting the top off, after shearing the pins and extracting the shaft.
Since I sit practically in the trunk(long arms),I never shortened the shaft when swapping from a std steering box to a power steering box.And honestly, I don't much care if I die in an auto collision,as at age 62,and as a believer, I am ready to meet my maker.Be advised that I am in perfect health today, if a little overweight.