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trouble on steering column rebuild

point45

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I tore down my steering column to tighten the tilt bolts. that part seemed fairly simple, i felt like i had it back together but i could not get the key turn the ignition. i tried for about an hour trying to get the tumbler to line up with the gear. i could only get it to slip in when i had to rotate the ignition nearly to the acc position. after that i was unable to get the key out unless i pried it back to the acc position. Also, there was never any resistance to when the key would be in the start position. it would not bounce back. my guess is that the tumbler is toast? but i am wondering if i missed something further back in the ignition gear.
 
can you pull it back apart and get some pictures of the tear down? You might be missing the spring insde or have it located wrong. I've only rebuilt a couple columns, not the most fun thing to do. I might be able to help but here's hoping some else chimes in too.
 
does the wheel lock? you probably have the geared bar in the wrong position.. and the key "springback" is actually in the rectangular ignition switch bolted to the top of the column down by the pedals, that the rod activates...
 
well the pin does engage the lockplate. i assume that means it is working.
 
the pin inside the column really has nothing to do with the rod running down the length of your column. Ryoken was just making sure you have that in place, because the cam gear and spring IIRC connect to it. The tension you feel when turning the key is due to the "starting rod" (for an uneducated term) that runs down the side of the column and into some kind of "spring depressed switch". (again, uneducated) IIRC the rod is on the left side, maybe 7 o'clock position :dunno: and runs between the tubes until the dash, there you can see it

:dunno::D


EDIT: that came off a little know-it-all or smartassy, just not sure how to fix it :doah::D
 
no worries on the delivery of your words.

i tore it all back down. here are the pictures, in the one you can see where the key tumber engages the gear thingymagigger. it never lines up. like i said in the first post, i had to force it back to get it to slide in, and then it was bound up and would not turn freely
 
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Where in Norcal are you? I've repaired hundreds of these things over the years and if you're close enough I could help you if you haven't fixed it yet.
 
Where in Norcal are you? I've repaired hundreds of these things over the years and if you're close enough I could help you if you haven't fixed it yet.

I'm In Petaluma. Thank you for offering your assistance, fortunately i figured out what went wrong tonight. when i installed the gear bar that connects the ignition rod, it never engaged the ignition switch, the tab slid to the back, which is why i could only get the key tumbler installed when it was forced back, because it was pushing the ignition switch rod into the ACC position.

Thanks to everyone for your input.
 
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