The rag joint got soft. That is the large round washer looking part with four small holes in it. That cause the steering to feel sloppy right to lefts. The pins I bought should fix the sloppiness cause by tilt wheel, up and down.

Sloppy tilt is because of GM. Its a common over 100k issue GM has had on tilt wheels since,,well forever. The Rag joint is a common issue with cars that have headers. It takes a little time but the heat will soften up the joint at some point.

I know the column was out once before and I still have not figures out why when it is installed the key is to close to the dash. According to my 96 and 2000.

After this the steering should be tight an right. If you flip back a couple pages can can see in installed a new Rack and tie rods.

 

oh yes i know now we had do the same to mine when we put the headers in couse it wanted to rub on my headers,an is so close there,yes i like the fact the wheel has that spring that allows it to move with quick take offs or if you just tug on it

 

Stuff coming together. .


I was thinking of doing a video of the column repair but I'll bet I had it apart 4 times before I got it right. I really did not want to do it a 5th time for the camera. Getting everything back together is fighting me. Installing that shaft with headers in there is a bear.

 

If anyone is doing this repair on their cars I think it is best to pull the column with the cross shaft attached, Just disconnect it at the rack. Do all the work on the bench/vise and reinstall it as an assembly. Getting the cross shaft connected to the base of the column is a real bear when it is in the car.

 

Ok so I knew the front end was updated to the 2000 style, I am betting now that it was due to a wreck. The column I just spent so much time on repairing is too short, base on the manual that would be due to it clasping most likely in a wreck.

So now I need to decide weather I move forward and buy a column from a yard or just sell it off for parts. On the plus side I have the steering column disassembly process down to about 20 minutes.


Edit: Local yard is showing a black 6speed column in their inventory. I requested a quote. As long as it not too much this may be a quick process.

 

Local yard wants $200. I can try my luck at the U-pull it yard. I am told any manual shift column (v6 or V8) will work and the standard no-air bag column is $20 at the local you pull it lot. I can burn a day and not find one. Days are hard to come by.