Tilt steering column bent while driving?!

I was driving the Daytona home yesterday, enjoying some twisties. I've got the car in a hard rightward bend, my left hand around the 10:00 position on the steering wheel, and I reached down to shift, and the whole steering column suddenly bent to the left! Thankfully I managed to keep control of the car and my bowels. I muscled the column mostly back to center, but not perfectly. I drove the car home carefully, and now I can't get the key out of the ignition. The tumbler rotates back enough to shut the car off, but won't rotate to the OFF or ACC positions.

I won't have time to tear into this for at least the next week and a half. What in the hell could have possibly happened??! I've had this car for a very long time, and we've had our issues, but this one has got me spooked a bit.

You need to stop taking those muscle supplements or you were exposed to too much gamma rays like the Hulk.....LOL
On a serious note, it does sound scary.

Sounds like the tilt mechanism either broke or came loose inside the column. It is a Saginaw (GM) built column, just modified for a Chrysler lock and switches. G and J bodies have a slight asymmetric mount to the car so if the column tube broke you will need one from one of those bodies.

Thanks for the replies. I can still use the tilt function even with the wheel off-center, so it seems like whatever's going on is above the fulcrum point. I'm really hoping something's just loose, but the way it felt in my hand was like something yielded as opposed to coming loose. Got the heebie jeebies enough to want to put a fixed column in it, but again I haven't ripped it apart yet.

yeah , should just be the bolts holding the tilt joint came apart

when the top of the column moves up and left it will often shut the car off

- used to happen in my local drive through everytime

I agree...sounds like the tilt mount screws came loose. Happened on my '88 somehow while the car was sitting in an airport parking lot! When I parked it, everything was fine. Came back, damn wheel felt like it wasn't attached to anything! Still can't explain it.

lol
it probably got wobbly as you drove it and didn't notice until after you haven't been driving it..

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Originally Posted by Dr. Johny Dodge

lol
it probably got wobbly as you drove it and didn't notice until after you haven't been driving it..

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I've thought the same thing, but holy crap it was bad! I honestly can't see myself driving the car the way I did with the wheel loose like that. Maybe I did and didn't realize it, but man...one would've thought I would've noticed! LOL

I think letting the wheel flop and thump unrestrained into the raised position causes the bolts to back out with the repeated impacts of daily use

the last time you parked it might have been it's final flop up ...

I had it apart about a year and a half ago in order to tighten those tilt mounting screws. I've had more than one of these cars with that style column, so I'm familiar with having to tighten those buggers. Whatever is going on right now is totally different. When it shifted off to the left, it didn't feel like anything was loose. The damn steering wheel was just suddenly pointing somewhere else!

At the moment, I only know of one car in one junkyard near me that I could possibly get a column out of, so hopefully it's still there if I need it.

I can't imagine what would yield in the column, letting the whole thing to shift like that. I'll be very interested to see the root cause.

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ck_Rebuild.pdf

nevermind what the link says .. just click on it

if you have an extra 2.2 thermostat housing you can make a cheap easy tool for removing the steering lock plate

cut both bolt locations off your t stat housing

place on column over shaft and flat against the lock plate

mark the t stat hose neck to cut it shorter while allowing enough material to be left to enable the steering wheel nut and a large washer to thread down onto the t stat housing enough to reveal the c clip retaining the lock plate

with the bolt ears and neck cut , now you need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of the t stat housing

do not cut the bottom gasket flange of the t stat housing
you need the lower circumference intact or else the housing will simply spread and compress without revealing the clip

the window allows you to get in to remove the c clip with your c clip tool of choice


- once upon a time the lock plate tool was only available at a GM dealer and it cost 140 bucks
I found the way round that .. back then

that link is the best posting I've found yet for this topic
maybe it should get a sticky re- posting it in chassis / something- somewhere easy to find

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cordes

I can't imagine what would yield in the column, letting the whole thing to shift like that. I'll be very interested to see the root cause.

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the joint with the two rods and the plastic ball move up in the column tube when the bolts and the upper retainer plate come loose

it's the ball section popping up out of place that makes the while deal seam so fubared as now the lower rod can move about in the space the much larger ball fits

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr. Johny Dodge

that link is the best posting I've found yet for this topic
maybe it should get a sticky re- posting it in chassis / something- somewhere easy to find

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Great link Johny, you get a gold star!!!

I finally had a chance to rip apart the column. Not good:

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/at...id=64416&stc=1
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/at...id=64417&stc=1
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/at...id=64418&stc=1
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/at...id=64419&stc=1


I don't know what happened first, whether the aluminum piece cracked and it stressed the steel tube, or if the tube cracked first. Maybe I overtighened the 4 Torx screws last year and this was a ticking time bomb. Maybe the aluminum was worn from the screws being loose for so long and it just got chewed up over time. Who the hell knows. Whatever the case, it looks like this column is junk.

Anybody got a rebuildable column they'd part with? Even if it needed a complete tear down, all of the guts and switches on mine are fine, so I think I'd have everything.

Yes, I have two sitting here, let me see if one is the asymmetric mount the G and J bodies use, I am pretty sure the complete one is from an 84-86 G body (it came from a Laser). The stripped one may be a K body one. I will look in a little while and maybe get pictures.

I really appreciate you looking for me, however I'm seeing them on ebay for upwards of $400. If that's actually what these go for, this car will be sitting in its current state until at least next May.

Would a GM column be close enough to steal the necessary parts from? That may open up options for me locally.

Part of the guts are the same, the outer tube is Chrysler specific. If you can cut off and reweld the upper mounting bracket, the stripped down K tilt column can be made to work. The difference is in the mounting ears, the lower ones are transferable by unbolting them, the uppers are welded to the tube. I will get you some pictures in a while so you can see the difference. The K one I don't need, as I am using a 1989 J body dash in my konvertible so need the asymmetric upper mount.

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Originally Posted by jonnymopar

I finally had a chance to rip apart the column. Not good:

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Could you not get the aluminum part TIG welded back to form?