Steering Column plastic piece

I was taking apart my column out of my 1975 Dodge dart and I see that the plastic sleeve that is on the shaft is broken, is this something I should worry about?

Thanks

It is the break away in an accident that allows the column to collapse instead of skewering you on it. I would think the most difficult thing is that it locates the column length properly so you might have to fiddle with it when you reinstall to get it correctly onto the splines for the steering gear, and correctly located as far as how close the wheel is to the dash. Column also has those break away plastic mounts under the dash on the column bracket.

Looks like there's a pretty clear witness mark for where the shaft is supposed to be in terms of length (that line of surface rust). If you're worried about it, you could collapse it where the rust line lines back up and drill through the shaft where that little nylon plug is and install a nylon screw. through the shaft.

mopowers said:

Looks like there's a pretty clear witness mark for where the shaft is supposed to be in terms of length (that line of surface rust). If you're worried about it, you could collapse it where the rust line lines back up and drill through the shaft where that little nylon plug is and install a nylon screw. through the shaft.

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I mean the shaft is still pretty stiff sliding into the other one, I don't think it will affect anything, the only reason the piece came off is because I pried the shaft out a little wondering why the column lock plate did not come off only to see that it has a pin on it with a cover over it after I read the factory manual.

If its truly something that is making the column dangerous then I will change it.