how do u fix a steering column wabble

[nickdubrule41]

hey guys my steering column is very wabbaly at the joint were it tilts.you can grab the wheel in any of the tilt positions and it will move in any direction about 1/4 of an inch. i dont mean it moves like you are tring to turn the wheel it moves when you lift the wheel up or down on it or left or right. i noticed it when i was trying to do a U turn bcz it was moving all over the place. i was reading the shop manual and it says there are bearings in there and it shows how to change them. i didnt thing it was bearings tho bcz this happend all of a sudden.where bearings wear out over time.????any help would be great im sorry about he grammer im in a little rush thanks nick.

 

[puckhead]

What is wrong is not bearings its pry the ole tilt bolts have loosened up if your not familar with collums i'd sugest taking it to a shop the are a few special tool u need as well as some expierence in dealing with gm steering collums

 

[LongIslander26]

Wobbly tilt wheel

First, you need to pull the wheel off, then unscrew the turn signal lever screws. Remove all the little screws that hold the turn signal cam assembly in place. Reach along down towards the bottom of the column, and pull you a little slack on the wires, pull the cam assy out of your way, look into the column just below where the lock cylinder is, and you'll se a bolt head that's like 3/8 or 7/16. Tighten that bolt, and it'll tighten you column up. Now is also a good time to clean all the crud out of you turn signal cam, and lube it with some lithium grease, or replace it if it's broken.

 

[cegusman]

Here is a good tech article

 

[nickdubrule41]

ok well iv got the wheel and all the levers off ill go take out the turn signal and see whats going on in there the best that i can and ill let you know what happens thaks alot!!!!

 

[puckhead]

just in case you feel like tackeling this alone heres the tools u need

for newer steering wheels u need a 7 mm socket to get horn plate off
then a 13/16 to get wheel nut off
a steering wheel puller
a lock plate removal tool (and an extreme amount of talent to get the snap ring off)
after that its either a torx or philips to get your turn signal arm and switch out
another torx or a pick to remove your lock cylinder m(depends on year)
then some more torx or philips to get upper bowl loose (depends on year)
then you need the special pivot pin puller to remove your pivot pins
after that depress your tilt lever to pull the upper tilt peice away from lower peice(try to take note of where everything goes)
then u should see 4 external torx bolts surrounding a round u-joint looking thing those u need to take out one at a time clean em and locktite em and put em back in i beleive they are what is called an e-8 torx

 

[primr87]

what i did

when this happened to me i found a cheap column out of a wrecked blazer and replaced the whole column it was easy for me because ive changed a column befor.

 

[87BrnRsd]

This happened on mine about a year ago. There are 4 bolts deep inside the column that hold it all tight. I did it myself using a gm factory repair manual. I could only get to tighten 3 screws. I needed a special tool for the bearings for the 4th bolt. Anyways, it was a huge pita. Mine just came loose again last week, and I am definitely not going to go in through the column again! One of the main reasons is that gm liked to put a bunch of their cheap crappy yellow molded plastic pieces inside. You barely touch them and the break into a million pieces. It would probably be easier to buy a whole column and replace the whole thing.
-Harrison

 

[nickdubrule41]

well i got it all tightened up. I did not take it all down to tighten the four 7mm bolts. I just took the directional cam off and moved the wires over that gave me enought room to get a 7mm socket down there with 3 extentions and tighten the a bolt that was loose. I really did not feel like taking the rest of the column appart to get to the other 3 bolts. The one bolt that i tightend will have to do. It worked 100% there isnt a wobble any more. I am just going to be a little nicer to the steering wheel from now on, and try not pull my 240lb body up into the truck using the steering wheel as a grab handle. Thanks for the help guys and thanks LongIslander26 i did exactally what you said and it worked....well iv got to go thank you very much ,,,,nick

 

[Boondocks]

Next time you are in there, I highly recommend pulling each bolt, one at a time, and putting thread-locker on it an set the torque.

I went through this with My Buick GN and the column never came loose again.

 

[steve_kibbe]

when this happened to me i found a cheap column out of a wrecked blazer and replaced the whole column it was easy for me because ive changed a column befor.

only one problem, the column you buy could take a dump on you at any piont.