# Hey GeeTee --- Steering column stuff



## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

OK well, here we go again. I love these old cars... truly I do :willy:

Hoping Jeff and/or someone else with experience happens by. I've got a steering column problem, specifically the back-drive that ties in with the column lock, neutral switch, etc.

"Something happened" and now the column won't go into lock and I can't turn the lock cylinder to the lock position. I've even tried completely disconnecting the back-drive linkage and just turning the collar on the column next to the instrument panel by hand, and also moving the linkage lever on the lower part of the column by hand. It's like something slipped or maybe "jumped a tooth", because I can turn the collar and/or move the linkage and feel a good hard solid audible stop at the end of it's travel, yet that's still not 'far enough' to engage the lock, arm the neutral switch in "Park", or allow turning the lock cylinder all the way to lock position.

Sound familiar? I know I'm probably going to wind up pulling the column regardless (which is a pain) but I'd really like to know what the likely cause is first, if anyone knows...

I probably should just by a replacement column and be done with it, but 1) this one is original to the car 2) I don't want to wait for it to come in and 3) I don't want to spend the money right now. 

Thanks,

Bear


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Bear, can you remove the key, and get the lock and cylinder out?


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Sounds like something "up top" in the lock to me....


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

I can remove the key, but only because the lock cylinder is worn  It needs to turn another 1/8" counter clockwise before it will reach "lock". I haven't tried removing the lock cylinder or anything yet.

Whatever the collar/back-drive is hitting when I turn the collar by hand, it's a solid thunk when it hits - like it's hitting the stop. It's just not moving the lock pin far enough "up" to engage the lock ring or to allow turning the cylinder all the way to lock. I've never torn into the guts of one of these before --- I'd sure love for it to be something I can fix without having to pull the whole column. I've got the service manual and have been looking through it for clues, but I'm having a hard time visualizing how all the linkage works from the diagrams.

Bear


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Steering columns are "strange"....I can ask my friend Richie tomorrow night. He will probably have some idea...works on a lot of muscle cars, especially GTOs ..He built my engine.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks Eric... and I thought tonight was going to be spent dialing in the carb.... sigh... 

I -think- all I've got left to do there is get the air valve tension right.

Bear


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

I'll try to find out....at least beast is home...My car is 20 miles ayay in the upholstery shop...


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Bear, none of mine have ign in the colum..they have the primitive "in dash" location. All the columns do is give the steering wheel something to hang on. That said, you should be able to pull the wheel and get access behind the turn signal switch. There is a snap ring on some (a circlip, really) and you need a special tool to "load" the switch plate in order to remove the clip. Tilt columns are bolted together behind this plate, and can come loose. Also, be aware that the metal used in the lock/cam area is not the greatest...it certainly wasn't meant to last 40 or 50 years. It sounds like a simple mechanical problem that you can probably figure out simply by looking at it, provided you can get access to it. Do you have a diagram??


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## facn8me (Jul 30, 2011)

I'm betting on the rack the slides when the switch is tuned. This is a tilt colum right? Fairly common for it to break as it's made of pot metal


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks sir, yes I have a diagram in the service manual (it's not that great) and I've also found an article on the Car Craft web site that goes into how to rebuild one of these columns. The photos/graphics on that one were better at helping me see what's in there, but I still havent found a reference that explains how the rotational motion on the lower end of the column gets translated into interaction with the lock cylinder mechanism and the neutral switch. Maybe it will be obvious once I get into it. We're getting off work early today due to the holiday (financial markets close around noon) so I'm planning to look at it this afternoon. I do have the tools and am familiar with how to get that snap ring and plate off to get access to the lock disk, turn signal switch, etc. Maybe I can get really lucky and see/fix the problem without having to pull the whole column... yeah right :rofl:


On a different note, the car is still drivable - the steering wheel just doesn't lock and I have to start it in neutral, oh yeah and the backup lights are on with it in Park.. (other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you enjoy the play?)
I drove it to work today. Those new wheels feel really nice. (my other ones were all slightly bent) and the new slightly larger rear tires made just enough difference so that now an indicated 70 mph on the speedo is actually about 71.5 according to the cheesy GPS app on my phone, and at indicated 70 the tach is showing 3100 rpm. I'm liking all of that. :cheers

Looks pretty evil too with the bigger tires ... 


Bear


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

facn8me said:


> I'm betting on the rack the slides when the switch is tuned. This is a tilt colum right? Fairly common for it to break as it's made of pot metal


No, it's not a tilt column. Just a plain old garden variety non-tilt. I'm hoping when I get the steering wheel pulled and down into the guts of the top end, something obvious will present itself. :rofl:

Bear


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

I keep forgetting how well your car turned out what with all the hubbubb about Uncle Eric's ride. What a classy looking '69. I suspect that you will find one or more broken parts when you get in there.....Do you have a back-up column you can canibalize or access to some parts? Nothing I hate worse than a teardown only to have to re-assemble with still-broken parts....IMO, no locking wheel is no big deal....not a theft deterent anyway....but the back up lights would drive me nuts. My good friend Bill ('67 GTO) uses the 'Mrs. Lincoln' line all the time when things go REALLY wrong....it pretty much says it all!!!


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks for the kind words.  Yeah, I thank my lucky stars every month that I got mine entered into the ROTM contest before he finished his - it would have been no contest 

I don't have a spare column, but I'm hoping that worst case I'll be able to at least reassemble it "like it is" if I have to. 

They just turned us loose from work, so I'm outta here. Going to stop by Guitar Center on the way home and buy a pair of drummer's gloves (we're having a small party tomorrow and I'm looking forward to playing some), then go home and tear into it.

Bear


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## facn8me (Jul 30, 2011)

them meats look good on the back. Good luck on the coluum


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Well ok - I've got the top of the column apart with it still in the car, and I think I see what's going on. Now that I can actually see the thing, I understand how it works - something I sure wasn't getting from the diagrams.

The sector gear that's mated to the key cylinder moves a rack up and down that's tied via a linkage rod to the ignition switch down on the base of the column. The rod is what operates the ignition switch. All the way "down" is START, all the way "up" is ACC.
The piece of the puzzle I was missing is how the back-drive and collar gets into the act. Now I see. The intent of the whole thing was to prevent you from being able to lock the column (and thus the steering wheel) with the car in any gear other than PARK. It's easy to see that locking the steering wheel while running down the road at 70 mph would come under the heading of "bad thing". :agree

Inside the collar that is rotated by the back-drive linkage, there's a crescent-shaped piece of steel. There's a notch in that crescent that allows the rack to slide forward (towards the steering wheel) for LOCK and ACC. Whenever the lock cylinder is in OFF, RUN, or START the steering wheel edge of the rack is "down" behind that piece of steel. Whenever the transmission is in any position other than "PARK", the back-drive linkage moves the arm on the bottom of the column, rotating the collar so that the notch in the crescent is no longer in line with the rack. Since the rack is "behind" the crescent, this prevents the rack and lock cylinder from moving into the lock position. Ok - that's how it's supposed to work. Evidently the problem I was having was caused by things not being lined up well enough to allow the rack to slide into that notch, and since it couldn't do that that meant I couldn't turn the cylinder any farther and lock the steering wheel. It also prevented me from switching to ACC position. Looking closely at the corner of the rack, I can see some worn spots/burrs that might be where it was catching. For sure the collar was rotating as far as it possibly could... 
So.... maybe I'll get out my little Dremel tool with a rotary cutter and dress all the edges on both the rack and that crescent (it comes out by removing two screws), maybe do a little reshaping around the notch. That oughta take car of it. I should take some pictures of it while it's apart, cause I sure haven't been able to find any out on the net that show these details. Maybe it'll help someone else sometime.

I ought to have it back together this evening, maybe even have some time to get back to tuning the thing.

I've got an idea there too on how to tame this bog. It involves using a part for an aquarium I bought at a pet store on the way home 

Bear


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## facn8me (Jul 30, 2011)

I know napa sells a aftermarket rack but don't know how far back it goes as far as fitment goes. It's in their balkamp book. As I said earlier. Fairly common problem


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

facn8me said:


> I know napa sells a aftermarket rack but don't know how far back it goes as far as fitment goes. It's in their balkamp book. As I said earlier. Fairly common problem


I did find that on their web site, but it's for a tilt column according to the photo of it. Mine's a non-tilt and the racks are very different between them.


However, ::::it's fixed:::: arty:

And I now know more about these columns than I ever wanted to.... :willy:


Bear


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Nice job Bear! Happy 7/4....Eric


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks E, :seeya: Happy 4th to you too sir, and thank you for that as well.

Hey, Mrs. Bear and I are having a little get together here starting about noon today, why don't you drop on by? In fact, everyone here -- c'mon over. We'll have some food and drink --- and I'm sure at some point there will be some attempts made at musicianship.

Now for something completely different. My oldest son is leaving very soon on a contract gig to go teach English to kids in Korea. He's got a music education degree but has been out of work for a long time - this is the best opportunity he's been able to find. He could be leaving as soon as this Saturday, and of course even though he's in his late 20's that still freaks Dad out a little  Anyway, he suggested we go out to Texas Motorplex Friday night and run the car sort of as a going away fling... if I can get it reasonably close to being tuned, I think I'm going to try.

Bear


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

arty::shutmeGreat news, Bear, and all the Best to you and your family. You must be proud of your son...that's a "big" move forward! Happy fourth to all of you folks out there, and yeah, If I had the opportunity to hoist a glass and break bread with you guys, I would!! Gonna be grilling some salmon and taking it easy on this end. Supposed to e right around 100 degrees here today!!


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Thanks for the invite Bear....hope you get to the speedway today with your son.....that will be some "life experience' for him, hoper he enjoys it!!! :cheers Eric


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## facn8me (Jul 30, 2011)

BearGFR said:


> Thanks E, :seeya: Happy 4th to you too sir, and
> 
> Now for something completely different. My oldest son is leaving very soon on a contract gig to go teach English to kids in Korea. He's got a music education degree but has been out of work for a long time - this is the best opportunity he's been able to find. He could be leaving as soon as this Saturday, and of course even though he's in his late 20's that still freaks Dad out a little
> 
> Bear


I have a friend that did/does that. I figure he must enjoy it because he has a new korean bride.... You probaly didnt want to hear that...


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

As long as he stays safe and healthy, I'm good with that.

Bear


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