Wobbley steering wheel

[kings-x59]

Needless to say, I won't be driving the astro to work tomorrow. The steering wheel wobbles left-right and up and down about 1/2". All the wobble is from the universal joint up. this started out as a very slight wobble and has progressively gotten worse.
The last thing I need right now is to have the wheel come off in my hands while cruising down 290.
Anyone have some input on what's wrong with it?

[Jim in Indy]

Tilt Wheel, correct? There are 4 torx heads that work loose. The fix involves pulling the wheel, turn signal assy, lock assy.... than cranking those puppys home with a couple drops of LocTite.

[kings-x59]

Thanks Jim, that helps alot. I don't have a steering wheel puller so it will have to wait till next weekend. Fortunately, my daughter's out of town so I have a back-up vehicle for the interim. I think I'll lube the turn signal while I'm at it. I haven't pulled a steering wheel since my '68 vw bug. Would lithium grease be ok for that?

[Jim in Indy]

Yeah, a little dab from a Q-tip works great.

Take your time with this one, and line all parts/pieces up in the order you remove them. Watch the little ball bearings close for the upper race.... a dab of grease works well to hold them in place. Also, pay close attention to the control rods for the high beam switch & the ignition switch as they must be installed the way they came out.

Remember to disconnect the battery also!

[kings-x59]

Thanks for the tips. I picked up a steering wheel puller on the way home this evening. went out to the van and popped the horn cap off the wheel. Sat there for a few minutes staring at it and thought, naa maybe not tonight, this will have to wait until Saturday. My Haynes manual seems a little light on the disassembly of the steering column. From your post I see that I'll need to take this slow and methodical.

[Drooler]

this may help also http://www.thirdgen.org/steeringcolumn

[kings-x59]

Dude that was scarry. thanks for the post though. It appears I could turn this into a complete conflagration.
"the plate could fall off and you'd have to remove the entire steering column?"
BTW, where ya been? Used to see you on the old AS.com board all the time. I gave up on that one, even after the hostle "buy out". Home is here now for me.

[Jim in Indy]

To LocTite the bolts, do one at a time, -or- bend a paper clip and use it to 'dribble' a drop or two of LocTite down to the threads.

Thanks for the link, Drooler. That's a really good step-by-step of how it's done.

[kings-x59]

Well my backup vehiclle out crapped out on me this morning so I took the day off to work on the 'stro to try to get it back on the road. Complicated little bugger the steering column is. I hadn't anticipated the need for a special spring compressor, so I had to cobble one together. I'll post a pic of it when I reinstall the lock plate, for posterity's sake. Nothing elaborate, a short section of channel and two small wood blocks. Worked just fine though.

I got down to where I can see the torx bolts that are the problem, but I can't get to them yet. I just re-read the link that Drooler posted and see that I need some special pin puller, unless someone has a trick up their sleeve. I've been staring at this housing for a while now trying figure out how it comes off. At this point, I don't know where the pin or pins that require the special puller are located. Input on this would be greatly appreciated.

pics of the teardown as it stands right now.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g55/k ... G_0738.jpg


http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g55/k ... G_0737.jpg

[Rebel]

Post some good uns will ya. I've been putting this off for some time. Could be longer.

[Jim in Indy]

By 'rocking' the tilt setting up & down, and using 1/4" drive tools you should be able to reache 'em all.

Be careful of that upper bearing race when you tilt the upper part up & down. Those little ball bearings will want to take off...

[kings-x59]

Will do Reb.
I figure if I take the pics as I reassemble, I can just post them in reverse order for the disassembly.

Jim posted while I was writing...
Jim, I'll give that a shot. I may have to get another set of torx sockets. the sockets I have are 3/8" drive.
I really do appreciate everyone's help.

I found a diagram of the steering column here: http://www.autozone.com/shopping/repair ... 52800a844c

The second diagram down is for the tilt wheel. I'm wondering if the pins to be removed are the ones labeled 156 pivot pins?

eyeballing my nut and bolt gage, they look to be about 5mm internally threaded.
If these are the ones, a quick trip to the hardware store ought to do the trick. A bolt, a nut, a washer, a block of wood overbored half way through at about 3/4" dia. and bored the rest at 6mm or so, and voila a pin puller.
Or maybe a short piece of pvc pipe and a fender washer instead of the block of wood.

[kings-x59]

Here's a pretty good write up on a steering column, with pics, very similar to the astro / safari.
Mine's an older model, I don't have the airbag, but someone might find this useful
http://domesticmisfits.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=124

[kings-x59]

Welllll, that was fun..sort of. it only got fun when it was done and everything still worked. The steering wheel is rock solid now.
Jim, on my '89 only two of the torx head bolts were accessible. I had to tear it down pretty far to access all four. I'm glad I did. three of the four bolts I was able to turn out by hand.

Reb, i've got a bunch of pics and a few tips.
I need some pointers on posting pictures. When i do it from my photobucket account, only the links show up in the thread.

I'll post pics and a write up this evening.

[kings-x59]

Ok so I've got a bunch of pics and I'm just about done with the write up. This will be a very long post. If anyone has suggestions on a way to post this other than a horribly long reply in this thread please let me know.