My steering wheel will move about 2 inches up and has 1 inch of play left and right...I know its a loose or broken column...can't find a replacement anywhere...how dangerous is driving it until I find one...and how big of a headache is replacement

 

Theres a thread somewhere on here for the fix. Its just a few loose tilt bolts, you have to disassemble the colum to get to them, it only takes about an hour.. And two special tools that are really cheap. A steering whell puller and a lockplate removal tool. Good luck.

 

Thanks bro...Ive been told the column is actually broken and needs to be 'replaced' do you still think that replacing the bolts and tighting up will fix it?

 

is it a tilt coloumn

 

heres what you dohttp://www.chevyasylum.com/column/tiltcol.html

 

Mines like this too.. its a jeep thing

 

The columns are the same, but if you would like to stick to the Cherokee Forum.


https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/lo...t-broke-13641/

 

I've looked at the write up on cf...it's excellent...still on the fence about doing it my self...should I go for it?

 

One more thing...I dont see where the guy on CF is showing the special "pins" that need to be removed...also it seems as if the guy on CF says he couldnt really get to the top 2 inverted hex's, and that he just tightened the bottom two and it fixed the prob...is this true...?

 

Technically.. Ther are four bolts. The top left one is accessble after removing the ignition cam. Remove the ign cylinder, then there is an ignition pin, remove that, the spring must be removed on the left side of the cam... Then the cam will come out along with the actuating pin. Then you can get to that elusive top left bolt for the tilt.
The top right rquires removing the whole knuckle... I never bothered with it. The three bolts hold it just fine...
The tighter the bolt, the more "springy" your tilt will be. It sounds complicated explaining it, but it is stupid easy as long as you put everything back where it belongs.
Tip: be careful when pulling your turn signal switch "disc" out of the way, those wires are old and frail.
Best of luck!

 

If you just use 1/4" drive tools including a VERY long extention, you don't need the special puller to remove the pins for removal of that lower part of the steering column. I have an 18" long 1/4" drive extention. It really comes in handy for tight hard to reach places. That is how I tightened my loose steering column screws. Worked great and 2 years and counting the steering column hasn't come loose again.

 

Did this 2 years ago in wifes 89, still going strong. Do it when you have time and no deadline. don't rush, fragile parts

 

X 1000 on what mike mike said. Give yourself plenty of time and take lots of breaks...lol....so you don't end up breaking any of the small fragile pieces inside the column.

 

Ok...need help ...I got all the way to where you pull the main part out to tighten the column...only problem is the wires to the signal aren't long enough to pull over the shaft...and under the dash there is a huge clip that has the wires running up the column...I absolutely cannot get this un plugged to give me slack

 

Wwwwhhhheeewwww...5 hours later...haha complete..such a tedious job..I only managed to get the bottom tight and only could get lock tite on one of em...also somewhere a long the way the little plastic clip that hits the bar for bright lights broke...so no brights now...also my ignition is kinda loose for my likings but I guess its fine...tight and signals, wipers work ...this concludes my first real repair...tomorrow comes some new plugs and wires...thanks cf for that write up...also..where can I get a cf sticker??