I had to bring my boys 89 cherokee limited in to work toady and I noticed while driving it the steering column is loose at the tilt area. It has a tilt wheel so I don`t know if thats the problem or not, but it moves up and down a little over an inch probably. The column or wheel isn`t going to come off in my hand is it?
Is it safe to drive it like that or anybody know what to do to fix it?
If I keep a little downward pressure on it it okay. Kind of got me scared a bit

 

It won't hurt to drive it like that. To fix it there us a couple e-torx bolts way down in the column that have come loose over the years from people grabbing the wheel to get in. I've owned two jeeps and seen more with this problem. Depending on the severity and your technical savvy/willingness to pYre, you may wanna put in a junkyard column like I did on my xj.

 

x2
a junkyard column swap is much easier to do than the repair.
been there, done that. and will do it again.