Steering Column Removal

This past week I decided it was time to work on the Hot Rod. I was motivated, kind of.

The trunk had yet to be removed so I loosened the 4 bolts and removed the trunk lid.

The rear bumper needed to come off so I removed that with a little help from my youngest son John Paul.

While removing the rear bumper there was a little piece of chrome trim near the fuel tank door and I removed that.

I noticed that it was a little rusty so I decided to rub it with a little steel wool to remove the rust and pitting and the rust and pitting came right off.

Just a little trick I remember from working on cars with my father many years ago. While it will take off most of the rust from the chrome and some pitting it will not remove all of it and the pitting will eventually return.

One way to keep the rust and pitting from returning so rapidly is to wax the piece after you use steel wool on it.

John and I also removed the rear tail lights, back-up lights, license plate lights, and the license plate. (July 30, 2018)

On Monday's my spouse likes to watch one of those single boy/single girl shows on national TV. I refuse to give the name of the show that's how much I dislike it, so I decided to go out and work on the car.

I stood around for a bit looking at the car trying to get motivated and decided it was time to pull out the steering column.

I had no idea how to do this so I just took a stab at it.

Turns out that one cannot remove the steering column itself and one must remove the steering column with the steering gear attached. It's an assembly that must come out through the firewall into the motor compartment.

I removed the Pitman arm from the steering gear and associated steering linkage and the bolts holding the steering gear to the frame in the motor compartment area.

You can't read it because it's mouse sized, but it says that the steering gear is attached to the steering shaft and they cannot be removed without destroying the functionality of them both. It is also pointing to the steering gear that needs to be removed before you attempt to remove the steering shaft from the vehicle.

Pretty stupid design if you ask me.

I do NOT have a repair manual for this vehicle so I'm just flying by the seat of my pants on how to take things apart.

Almost all of my ideas on how to remove things is based on past experience with GM automobiles when my late father and I used to rebuild and repair 1930's - 1970's GM cars.

I then needed to remove the steering wheel and all the associated assemblies.

The Horn Ring was the first thing to come off.

By pushing on the Pontiac symbol in the middle of the steering wheel and simultaneously twisting counter clockwise the center piece to the horn ring will come off and the nuts holding the steering wheel to the steering column will be visible. Remove them.

• Center piece that needs to be removed to access the nuts retaining the steering wheel and horn ring.

• Locking and standard nut to be removed so the horn ring and be removed.

Once the above nuts are removed you can remove the horn ring and expose the bolt holes needed to remove the steering wheel with the proper puller and bolts. (See Pics)

• Bolt holes used to remove the steering wheel

I did not have the correct bolts needed for my steering wheel puller so I had to go purchase them, bummer.

When I used to work on vehicles for a living I had all that stuff right in my shop, but I am no longer a full time mechanic so I have rid myself of unnecessary items over the years.

I went to Home Depot and purchased the proper bolts to use with my puller. Crisis averted. Big deal huh? LOL

• Steering wheel puller ready to go.

Below you can see a spring and 2 large bolts (See arrows), that need to be removed so that the steering shaft will drop down making it easier to remove the Turn Signal and Shift Column assemblies.

What's missing from this picture is a chrome cover that is used to hide these bolts and the spring. I had already removed this.

• First remove the spring (black arrow) then remove the 2 bolts holding the steering column to the bottom of the dashboard.

I noticed that there was a floor panel that could be removed that could possibly aid in removing the Steering Column so I removed it.

• Floor panel in place

• Floor panel removed

I removed the Turn Signal assembly and then the Shift Lever assembly.

• MAKE SURE TO UNPLUG ALL ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS before removing the Turn Signal and Shift Lever assemblies.

I loosened the bolt holding the Turn Signal assembly and slid the assembly off the steering column. (See Pics)

The screw on the left is for the Turn Signal assembly and the screw on the right is for the Shift Lever assembly. Loosen them.

The Red Arrow designates the direction you must slide both units off the steering column so that it can be removed from the vehicle.

• Turn signal assembly removed.

There were two different clamps holding the Shift Lever assembly on the steering column, one right under the steering wheel (shown above), and one out in the engine bay on the outside of the fire wall. (Pic below)

The Black arrow points to one of two U-clamp nuts on either side of the steering column that need to be removed so that the Shift Lever assembly can be removed.

Once the screw under the steering wheel is loosened and the clamp out in the engine bay were loosened and removed I could slide the Shift Lever assembly off the steering shaft and slide the Steering Column out through the Fire Wall.

I reassembled the steering shaft assemblies after it was all removed so that I would not lose any of the pieces because I haven't decided whether I want to sell this or try to use it. Right now it looks like I may not be able to use it in the final assembly of the vehicle, but I'll keep it a while before I decide what to do with it.

(August 6th, 2018)