WHAT NOW? How's this come off??

OK............got it licked...........

C-Clamp and socket just won't work....too tight.....I went back to the punch and it came out this time....just a little solvent first (a drop), a couple of taps, and then drove it out....and it IS tapered.

From what I can see, and with all due respect to other opinions, I do NOT believe changing out the whole column would be easier......The ONLY difficult thing about this was the pin, not knowing exactly what it was and how to remove it.

Everything, from start to finish (except the pin), was clearly evident and self-explanatory to a modest mechanical intellect (such as myself....emotional modesty optional). To be honest, if I had all of my tools gathered FIRST, including the proper punch and allen wrench (for the set screw on the inner bell), this job would probably be flat-rated at 1.5 hours, and I could clean and refinish the parts in that amount of time. (I mean 1.5 from old bells to new ones installed and key in).

No joke guys........if it weren't for that stinking tapered pin, this would have been really easy........Just gotta watch the grease on your white buckets.

Now that I've conquered the thing, bring me all of your tired, your oppressed and rejected auto columns, and I'll set them FREE! (no phone calls or e-mails please). #-o (By the way, I used 78 Dodge Truck bells to replace the old ones in the dart Sport). Thanks to the guys who gave me the heads up on that tapered pin!! :cheers: