Idiot proof steering column drop

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moparmandan

moparmandan

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Give me the child's version how to. It's a 1973 Scamp column shift automatic. And yes I've read the manual. Trying to remove the gauge cluster to refurb the wiper pivots and gauge cluster. So remove the two nuts and bolt under the column and loosen the three at the firewall? After disconnecting the negative battery terminal of course. Thank you.
 
Thanks for the tip! There's something that's not in the manual. Am I on track otherwise?
 
Its a 73 so it probably has a third bolt on the column support bracket in the back. The two front ones are nuts that go on studs. The rear is a bolt.
 
Be careful not to twist the column by accident. I leaned on it and twisted it when I was doing my wiper pivot seals. It popped out of park and the car started rolling backwards!
 
With column shift, its kind of common to loose the neutral safety switch adjustment. You might avoid that by disconnecting the linkage under the hood. Otherwise you might have to go under the car to readjust it. Try to not move the column left/right. Ease it straight down and straight up again. The plate at the firewall should have bolt scars to show where it goes back in place. There have been many times when I pulled the big *** OEM steering wheel rather than work around it. I have the puller so... Today I have a much smaller aftermarket wheel.
The 3rd hardware at lower right side of column support is a bolt going into a caged nut. DO NOT CROSSTHREAD this fecker. I did once with a air ratchet. Ruined my day so bad that I wont carry my air ratchet in there again. Phillips head, 7/16 socket, 1/2 socket, 6 inch extension, 12 inch extension, 3/8 ratchet.
In all the times I've done this, I have never had issue with the brake lamp switch. Chit happens though.
 
RedFish said:
With column shift, its kind of common to loose the neutral safety switch adjustment. You might avoid that by disconnecting the linkage under the hood. Otherwise you might have to go under the car to readjust it. Try to not move the column left/right. Ease it straight down and straight up again. The plate at the firewall should have bolt scars to show where it goes back in place. There have been many times when I pulled the big *** OEM steering wheel rather than work around it. I have the puller so... Today I have a much smaller aftermarket wheel.
The 3rd hardware at lower right side of column support is a bolt going into a caged nut. DO NOT CROSSTHREAD this fecker. I did once with a air ratchet. Ruined my day so bad that I wont carry my air ratchet in there again. Phillips head, 7/16 socket, 1/2 socket, 6 inch extension, 12 inch extension, 3/8 ratchet.
In all the times I've done this, I have never had issue with the brake lamp switch. Chit happens though.
Click to expand...
Funny you should mention it. Part of this is putting on a Grant 13" wheel. Should I do that first? Would that give us enough room (wheel off) to remove the cluster and do the pivots?
 
moparmandan said:
Funny you should mention it. Part of this is putting on a Grant 13" wheel. Should I do that first? Would that give us enough room (wheel off) to remove the cluster and do the pivots?
Click to expand...
Pulling the wheel gets it out of your lap, no working around or through it. The column bells are what gets in the way of panel R&R so you'll lower the column regardless. Even after lowering the column, put a towel over the bells so you don't scar them.
If I was changing the wheel, dang right it would be the first piece to go out the door.
 
And since you mentioned wiper pivots... these rotate only 180 degrees. Wiper arms and linkage pressures wear one half of the little bronze bushings inside the pivots. Sort of like l/l . The housing is about 3 inches long but there is only a 1/2 long bushing at top and bottom. Since the pivot outer housings are mounted with only 2 bolts, they can be rotated 180 degrees. Mark their bottoms with a sharpie before removing. Reinstall with your marks to the top. The shaft is now against a much lesser worn bushing surface. Smoother quieter wiper operation results. I had to completely disassemble noisy 67 wiper pivots to discover I didn't really need to after all.
And if your grease fittings should happen to end up on the top... feck it. I seriously doubt anyone ever went back under the dash with a grease gun anyway. If you filled the cavity between the bushings with grease, that should be a lifetime supply.
 
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