[HO455]

2. I believe that "to lower" they mean to set the steering wheel down on the seat. Not to move the column into the engine compartment. By raise I mean pull the column up into the cab.

4. I see now that part of your confusion is coming from the exploded view you have. It's a "typical" drawing which is GM code for not the exact drawing. (Why would you want that?) It looks to be from an older vehicle. In your picture with the #4 tag it points at one set of bolts and a C shaped clamp around the housing and there is a second set about 3" up the column. Your drawing doesn't show both of them. Those bolts you see in the picture go into pieces similar to #17 on the drawing. One of them is the lower column bearing and the other one holds the return spring for the shifter. I believe the lower set is for the spring retention. The spring is what forces the shifter handle away from the steering wheel. This is the hard part to explain. The bolts going into #17 piece pass through slots in the housing and holes in the C shaped clamp. The slots are cut at a 45* angle in the housing. When the bolts in the C clamp are loose you can turn the #17 piece from the outside. The #17 piece will move up or down inside the housing (maybe a 1/4") when turned. None of these clamps or bolts need to removed for the column to be taken out. After you have the column out and if you want to tear down the column and replace the bearings then you would need to remove them.

I'm not sure but I think that the term "pot joint" is a Mopar name for what GM calls the intermediate coupling.