family-man
Registered Member
Took it in to have the column wobble fixed. It is better but not gone. Now where do I go from here?
CK5
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Steering wobbles after bolts tightened
- Thread starter family-man
- Start date
If you're talking about a tilt steering column that was loose and wobbly and you paid someone to fix it and it still wobbles they did not do the job correctly. It requires a pivot pin puller in order to take the column far enough apart in order to tighten all 4 bolts that become loose. Without the pivot pin puller you can get to 3 of the 4 bolts and you "might" make it tight enough to not wobble but not a guarantee.
No link, i've done MANY of these over the years though. I've even done them on the tilt/telescopic in vettes and caddy's.
family-man
Registered Member
they tightened the four bolts. when they put it back together they are saying something is loose below the tilt bolts. said about 8-10 inches blow the tilt joint. said tightening took out bout half the wobble. done by chevy dealership
The only thing 8-10" down from the tilt is shaft. Unless they are talking about the dash/column bracket that holds the thing in, in which case they should have just tightened for you.
IIRC there are a total of 3 bearings in the column plus the lower bearing outside against the firewall. 2 bearings on the short shaft AFTER the tilt. 1 bearing on the long shaft just inside the tilt and of course the one at the firewall.
But really, they should have caught that considering they had access to 3 of them while doing the "tightening". Unless you firmly specified not to do anything else.
Did mine a few years back and it never tightened up completely and ended up becoming really loose again. The internal column tube (area that contains the tilt retainer) had sheared/fractured. Is your shifter also binding? How long was it loose? Apparently, if the 4 bolts that tighten the retainer are left loose for a while, they will shear the column over time. You may need to get a new column tube and start over.
Here's a good link. A pic of my sheared tube is on post #38 of this thread:
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=300350
Here's a good link. A pic of my sheared tube is on post #38 of this thread:
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=300350
I just did mine and it's nice and tight now. Also replaced the turn signal switches/assemblies at the same time. Turn signals feel a LOT better too!
Now, onto the cracked column...is there a way to determine this visually from the outside or do you need to tear the whole thing apart to determine if it's good or not? Mine feels tight but worth checking. The PO before me might of been a big boy....column was loose but the seatback was bent too. How do you bend a seat back on one side anyways?!?
jeff - unfortunately, there's no real way of finding out the condition of the column itself without tearing it completely apart. in my case, I actually did the "4-bolt" retightening 3x and each time it would feel "ok" for a few months and then get progressively worse. When it goes, you'll know + the shifter will "bind" up (if it's an auto column). Bob (the guy who rebuilt mine) said they break from metal fatigue combined with a weak design and occasional bad manufacturing which is why you don't see it as often. In most cases the retainer just loosens up and it's an easy fix. A few things have to happen in sequence before they break...I also found out that my bro-in-law used to like to hang on the doors too which is why the hinges needed replacement as well.
I guess they don't make seats like they used to. my old large roommate (about 285-300lbs) bent two factory and one aftermarket seat on his 67' mustang. Most of the frames fractured but could be welded back to shape once they're stripped down.
oh...almost forgot - one other thing that Bob mentioned was to try and lighten the steering wheel as much as you can (like an aftermarket one). It'll help with column stresses.
I guess they don't make seats like they used to. my old large roommate (about 285-300lbs) bent two factory and one aftermarket seat on his 67' mustang. Most of the frames fractured but could be welded back to shape once they're stripped down.
oh...almost forgot - one other thing that Bob mentioned was to try and lighten the steering wheel as much as you can (like an aftermarket one). It'll help with column stresses.
