Jakers

I imagine it would lock as well - the whole point is for it to lock without the key inserted, regardless of anything else.


After talking with cruiser and looking at factorychryslerparts.com I'm 99% certain the piece that is missing is just the key buzzer - which I could care less about lol.


I was going to buy a new column - well new to me/used column online or from a JY but I think I'm just going to say screw it. Whole point was for torqueing down my pitman arm but I'll just get the gear box attached and turn the wheels to one direction and torque away.


Wasn't a complete loss though, at least now a key is needed to start it up lol.

Jakers

Well I went to the junkyard to browse around and I actually found two jeeps with the steering columns still attached. One of them though, someone tried to remove the steering wheel but their bolt must have snapped off so it was a wash....

Second one I found still had the horn button intact (woo-hoo!) - I removed the steering wheel and as I soon as I got to the lockplate I found the problem that was wrong with my Jeep. I never noticed it with mine because mine as a dust cover attached to it. The jeep I removed the steeringwheel from did NOT have a dust cover and I was able to see the rod the actuates from the ignition. On the lock plate there are several notches.

When the key is removed from the ignition and the steering wheel is turned - there is a spring loaded rod that pushes against the lock plate, when the wheel turns the lockplate moves and slides over the rod, the rod then falls into one of slots and locks the wheel in place. To unlock the wheel, you insert a key into the igntion and turn the ignition. The ignition then turns a metal rod with two flate ends, which is attached to a plastic gear with a lip. When the gear turns, the lip catches the lockplate rod and pulls it towards the firewall (away from the steering wheel) - thus releasing the lock and allowing you to turn the steering wheel. My issue was that the spring had fallen out of its groove and the lockplate rod would not return to the locking plate. I'm not sure if this is a common enough problem to warrant a write-up or how to but I took some more pics if anyone thinks I should go into more detail. I never knew how it actually worked so maybe this will help someone down the road!