Steering column shaft off center?

[demon322]

Just trying to check the obvious first. Recently I had the top part of my steering column apart changing my turn signal switch. I noticed then that the shaft inside the column moved around with everything apart. I put everything back together (twice, the first time it wouldn't lock) and now the steering in the car feels really tight, almost grabby. I looked in the cage for the column and the shaft is definitely toward the left. Should it be centered? I guess I never looked/thought about it before. Thanks.

 

[Darticon]

Been working on the steering column for my own car quite extensively because the previous owner had hacked things together to remove the shift arm...

I would say you may be missing the nylon "bearing" with metal clip or the insert with spring mechanism at the bottom - depends on which year and model you are working on. Would definitely let the bottom of your steering/shift tube to move around and closer to the outer tube.

Other guess would be that your outer tube, the part that has the collapsible mesh, is bent itself.

I saw this on a few of the columns I was wanting to purchase from salvage yard near me. Mostly on cars where people just wanted the gauge cluster. They would unbolt the steering column from up under the dash and instead of loosening those three bolts near the floorboard/firewall, they would just pry the column down to extract the gauges - ruining the base of the steering column in the process.

Same jerks that cut parts out of the wiring harness and ruined the rest...

 

[demon322]

Thank you for the reply. I don't think that I am missing a nylon bearing as the column moved freely before the TS replacement. Also the cage doesn't seem to be bent and I know I didn't pry on it.

Just wondering if I didn't get everything put back together correctly. It sure seems to be out of line and rubbing on the cage. I don't mind to pull it back apart I'm just not sure what to do to fix it. Thanks for your time.

 

[Darticon]

Oh wow, I can't imagine what would make it THAT off center, both at the top and bottom, without something being bent.

Just the way everything attaches/bolts up pretty much centers things up...

How far did you take this apart?

It looks as if the outer tube would have to be off a bolt because the steering-rod/shift-tube have really nowhere they could go off-center at the top of the column unless the top bearing was completely popped out.

Maybe the 4 screws that attach the head of the column to the outer tube did not feed down right pushing it off center?

 

[ssba]

I'd take it apart and check straitness of tube and shaft. Lower bushings
wear out as they are not made out of much.
The expanded metal tubes can get bent and collapsed.
I've had to correct a couple from cars that had been in light collisions.
Not much else can cause that much misalignment.

 

[ssba]

Just thought of this, did you leave all the floor bolts loose till after you
connected the coupler to the spined gear box. The floor plates have
oversized holes to allow for mounting column in without side tension on the
outer tube.

 

[AJ/FormS]

That looks goofy.
I would take it apart; again.

 

[Darticon]

That looks goofy.
I would take it apart; again.

^ The above pretty much sums up what I should have said...

 

[demon322]

Thanks again for the replies.

I only had it down this far except I did remove the steering lock plate after this picture was taken to have room to pull the wiring for the new TS switch. I did not take the column loose from the floor or from the steering box itself. I did unbolt the column from the dash so it was hanging down while I fished the wires down.

Last night I took it apart again to the lock plate (but did not remove it this time) to see if I could tell what was going on. Bolted everything back up and it does seem to turn much freer now, though it still looks about the same in the cage. The only thing I can figure is maybe I put everything back together while the column was hanging down from the dash and I should have bolted that part back together before I put the top part of the column together again. Weird.

 

[demon322]

Just thought I would update. It doesn't look much better but is no longer rubbing. I made sure I didn't reassemble the column while it was hanging down from it's mounts. I also replaced the 3 plastic spacers where the column plate mounts to the car. Not sure if any of these things had anything to do with my issue but I am glad it is better. Thanks all for the help.