Tilt Rant! Ya gotta be McGuyver or Something!?!?

[wedgemon]

OK, I'm no Chevy truck novice. I've had columns in and out, probably, 6 times before in the past 30 years. So, this past weekend, the wife was away for 2 days, I had the perfect opportunity to install the 1980 tilt column I bought a year ago. I knew I needed to swap the key cylinder and I'd be ready to go.

I recruited my Chip Foose wannabe kid to help. "I said, pull that clamp off under the master cylinder." He gets right on it as I build the oddest collection of 2 thru 6 inch 3/8th extensions hooked to a Makita, to make the reach under and thru the underdash wiring to the column kick panel screws.
They're 10mm BTW... That's when the boy says, "What socket comes between 9/16 and 5/8... AND, do we have a deep one??"

Sherman, set the "WAY-BACK" machine to about 1966 so I can kick the GM engineers' slide rule outa his pocket, you know the guy that thought it would be either cool or funny to incorporate not only the infamous 19/32 & 5/32 hardware, but also to throw in a 10mm!! Dad always said “Son, when ya work on a Chevy, ya gotta expect some leftover hardware, and ALWAYS have a crescent wrench handy…”

But, I digress.

Got my column out. That was a 2 hour ordeal. I do have 2 19/32’s. One open end and one standard depth socket. The kid and I both have busted knuckles from the M/C and are grateful for the 3 foot handled heavy duty magnet, ‘cause, every time we got the socket on about a 3 click turn, it’d loosen and slide over the nut and fall under the truck.

Managed, with a framing hammer and a crowbar, to get the lock plate clip off. Who needs that dang KD Lock Plate Removal Tool anyway.

Right??

This get’s me into hour number 9 on Saturday. Figure reassembly would be a breeze in the A.M.

Wrong!!

An eight armed man with three buddies couldn’t re-install that danged little clip with a crowbar and hammer!! After three hours of frustrating effort. I spent the $10 bucks (What’s my time worth again??) on the DANGED tool.

I don’t think it took two minutes to do it right. With the danged tool.

So, now we just need to install the intermediate shaft. So, I lay the new column on the bench, strap it down, slide the end of the I-shaft up to the end of the column shaft – checking for correct orientation, and commence tapping it on with the rawhide mallet.. Almost, get both holes aligned, and the column shaft sucks right on into the column, kinda like getting ice water thrown on your - well, you know… Yep, that's when I realized the engineered collapsibility of modern steering columns. Managed to re-extend it. And managed to adjust the I-shaft to slip on, for real, this time.

I recheck everything I’d done so far, and declare it ready to go back in.

Ya ever seen the underdash area of a moderately equipped 1980 Scottsdale, WITH aftermarket A/C, AND a clutch?!?!? Not just all the wiring and ductwork, but the clutch pedal down rod goes right down thru the middle of the whole schlemiel!! Not to mention the trailer brake stuff.

More cuts and scrapes. It’s all bolted in. Turn the key. It’s stuck!! The wiring is caught up ‘tween the mount and the column – cinching the ignition shaft. So, again, It’s all bolted in. Turn the key. Nothin’!!

Like I said, I’m no novice. But, even a novice knows to plug the harnesses in to the switch!! (maybe I’m just tired of a 2 hour project that turns into 2 days!!) So, one-more-time, all bolted in. Turn the key.

VROOOOM!!! We have liftoff!!

I took the rest of the night off. And will button it up tonight.

I’m really hoping there’s no further episodes of this nightmare…

I’ll let ya know.

- Dave

[Zoomad75]

Thats a pretty funny write up. Not to rub salt in the wounds but.....While you had the column apart did you remember to tighten up the 4 screws that keep the upper half of the column from wobbling? If you didn't you at least have the lock plate tool to make quick work of the dis-assembly and re-assembly again.

Reminds me of what happend to the column on my K5 before last x-mas. I drove up to Denver to help my Sister collect canned goods for a charity food drive then we would head up to winter park for some skiing. The K5 makes it through the week until we drive back down to Denver (after the blizzard). Drive back to my sisters house to find 3-4 feet of snow. I get stuck trying to pack down the snow so my bro-in-law can park his little jeep in the driveway. So after the humbling fun of getting yanked out by a stock jeep I shut the key off to run inside and grab a couple of things before I leave. Try to restart it and nothing. No switch movement at all.

Lucky for me I always carry my junkyard tool bag for such emergencies. Since I couldn't take the upper part of the column apart on site, I dropped the column down, reached up and grabbed the rod to the switch and pulled. vroom, engine comes to life and I now have to put the column back up in the dash. (keep in mind I was swearing like a pissed off sailor at this point) I then drive to my Dad's place across town making sure I don't stall it. Get stuck again in 3 ft of snow at his house (got out on my own) and fianlly stalled it out there. The next day I proceed to rip apart the upper column to find the potmetal rack broke where the rod connects to it. Thankfully the local Chevy dealer had one in stock and I was able to put it all back together again. It helped that my Dad has all the tools needed, steering wheel puller, lock plate tool and even the special little tool to remove the tilt pivot bushings. I had the coulmn apart in 30 minutes and back together in about 45.

Having the right tools makes all the difference. Thanks for the laugh though!

[wedgemon]

Zoomad - YES I did snug those up. I just had one of those CAN'T DO NUTHIN RIGHT weekends.

The good news is I wrapped it up tonight with no problems other than the wheel now sits at about 10:30 position where before it was stright up 12:00. And was extra mindful of that issue on reassembly. But, that'll be another weekend...

Regardless - WE HAVE TILT!!

- Dave

[rat454]

They don't get any easier...seems the more of them I do the more problems I run into..the newer ones suck....
I think anyone thats done one of them feles the way you do absolutly frustrated at one point or another...

still cheaper than a new one....

Greg

[Slonaker]

That sounded like just about everything I do to my truck. Everything seems to be more difficult than it needs to be. The longer I own it, the more I wish I had bought an older, simpler model. I don't have the patience for working around all of the wiring harnesses, extra vacuum lines, and stuff.

The first time I pulled my column apart, the tilt was really tight. It came loose about 2 months later, so I got to do it again.

Slonaker

[piecesparts]

I lost my ignition switch linkage on the Hot Rod Power Tour one year. I was sitting in the motel parking lot in Louisville and had to get the stupid stuff out of the way to get the ignition switch off of the column, so that I could start it by sliding it with a screwdriver for the rest of the trip. I tore down the column with a flashlight in one hand and a pair of "cat" bars in the other two hands and got it apart and the switch out from under the dash in about 2 1/2 hours. I can feel your pain...

[bmartin9122]

After reading that... I am thanking the good Lord I have factory tilt.

[piecesparts]

Lock plate tool from Snap On is at this website point http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/tools...e=snapon-store

This will take you to a page that has all kinds of the steering wheel removal equipment. You will want to look at part # Stock#: CG95A , for what you may need.

Ever since my ordeal on the "Tour", I tend to take mine along on long trips, as well as other spare parts.

[boxrodz]

Good story, wedgemon.
Reminded me a bit of ol' LaMantia's D&S Scary Sharp System back in the 'wreck da wood' days.

I'm with Slon. It almost seems that working on the truck never goes as planned. It seems to take a long weekend to do the simpliest repairs, where most guys around here can pull and drop a engine in the same amount of time.

[Slonaker]

Originally Posted by boxrodz

I'm with Slon. It almost seems that working on the truck never goes as planned. It seems to take a long weekend to do the simpliest repairs, where most guys around here can pull and drop a engine in the same amount of time.

It is a good thing we don't work on them together. It would take twice as long!

Slonaker

[boxrodz]

Originally Posted by Slonaker

It is a good thing we don't work on them together. It would take twice as long!

Slonaker

[hewlett2002000]

sounds like a job i did sunday. new brakes on my 66 that was sitting for a long time. i made sure and got everything i needed saturday afternoon(or so i thought) so i could get it done and do something else. it dident work that way, i started at 7am and after 3 trips to autozone, 2 trips to oreily's and a 12 pack we finally finished at 7pm.

[Slonaker]

Originally Posted by hewlett2002000

sounds like a job i did sunday. new brakes on my 66 that was sitting for a long time. i made sure and got everything i needed saturday afternoon(or so i thought) so i could get it done and do something else. it dident work that way, i started at 7am and after 3 trips to autozone, 2 trips to oreily's and a 12 pack we finally finished at 7pm.

I could have easily dragged that out to at least 2 days by breaking a dealer only part, or by having a wrong part that had to be replaced by one that needed to be special ordered...

I was on vacation last week at South Padre Island. My wife's clowncar (a little Mazda) started running badly, and the check engine light came on right before we got there. I just tuned it up abot 18 months ago, so I was afraid it was something more than that. The town we were staying in does not have a parts store that can read the code (2 stores, only one open), so I have to limp the car 20 miles to the next town.

The code reader says "misfire." All of the ignition parts on it are from O'Reilly, and have a lifetime warranty. Great! That's the only parts store open where I am staying. We're in luck, right? I'll just go back to the store near the hotel, and replace things one at a time until the problem goes away.

I limp the car 20 miles back to the first town, and the O'Reilly does not have the parts I need. They send me back to the second town! I wish they had told me that the other tiny town had Auto Zone and O'Reilly.A new cap, rotor, and wires caused me to lose a whole day of vacation running back and forth between the two towns. At least the parts were free under warranty...

Slonaker