Oversize Steering Column Pivot Pin

[RussMcB]

My '91 seemed to have excessive play in the steering wheel (more than 1/4" down and to the left). I bought an oversized pin from Marc (http://www.zr1specialist.com/HAT%20Web/products/steering%20column%20pin.htm).

I'm in the middle of the installation and I have two issues (not with the product):

1) The new oversized pin will not go all the way in. After tapping it with a hammer a bit, it still sticks out 1/8". Should I remove a little metal and try again?

2) A plastic part fell out (see pictures below) and I can't figure out what it is or where it goes. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Russ

[Gunny]

call or email Marc ... he checks his email late nite/early AM and he's usually at the shop by 10 AM

[Andy]

This exact same thing happened to me. The part that fell out goes between the turn signal stalk and the number 77 in the diagram. I had the same problem with the over sized pin too, sticking out just a little too much. I did not feel competent to tear down the steering column (which is required to get the plastic piece back in) so wound up taking it to my local Corvette specialist. He said the one over sized pin really wasn't going to fix my problem either. Ultimately, he wound up replacing both parts of the hub with NOS (He had a source. If I can find it I'll post it).

I found the source;

Steering Column Services
889 Molinaro Ct
Ivins, UT 84738

I don't have the phone number though.

[XfireZ51]

Marc's pin worked for me. It does fit w a bit of an edge left.

[Andy]

I'm not finding fault w/ Marc's pin. By itself, it would have taken enough play out of my system to allow the car to pass inspection. But once it was in the hands of a "specialist", it was a case of "in for a penny, in for a pound", so I opted for the "pound".

[-=Jeff=-]

I think t hat part is for the High/Low beam switch.. been a while since my column was apart

I did the pivot pin on the driver side of the column, I still have play. I have a complete telescopic column that I am really tempted to install and remove the air bag on my 90

[RussMcB]

Thanks for the responses. Good info.

I emailed Marc and he responded pretty quickly. Regarding the tight new pin fit, he suggested I look to see if the hole is oblong. I'll do that (hopefully tonight) then decide next steps.

Regarding the mysterious plastic piece, he said, "That's the high beam light switch cam. Reach down and move the high beam switch. The way that the rod moves should help you determine how to position the cam.".

[WVZR-1]

Thanks for the responses. Good info.

I emailed Marc and he responded pretty quickly. Regarding the tight new pin fit, he suggested I look to see if the hole is oblong. I'll do that (hopefully tonight) then decide next steps.

Regarding the mysterious plastic piece, he said, "That's the high beam light switch cam. Reach down and move the high beam switch. The way that the rod moves should help you determine how to position the cam.".


This is a "typical earlier Saginaw column" BUT from a Fiero with different key release but all else should do well. Page 26, 43 and 44 are documented pretty well with snapshots showing dimmer actuator orientation. There's scattered others that are very valuable. I've posted this a couple other times and I posted a Corvette one many years ago also that was not as well documented but worked well.

In your FSM see 3F5-8 fig 16 for proper orientation of the dimmer actuator, it's a very minor difference in the end cap fabrication early to later. Make sure the dimmer rod is inserted and dimmer responds appropriately.

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/images/d/d6/Jazzman_Steering_Rack_Rebuild.pdf

[RussMcB]

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/images/d/d6/Jazzman_Steering_Rack_Rebuild.pdfWow! That is a fantastic document. Lots of great pictures and instructions.

Thank you!

[WARP TEN]

Wow! That is a fantastic document. Lots of great pictures and instructions.

Thank you!

It really is an amazing document. Kudos to the author JAZZMAN. What really astounded me as I read through it is the engineering and incredibly complicated parts that go into such a seemingly simple device. Sometimes we forget why GM employs so many fine engineers who make such complexity seem ordinary and operate smoothly for the user. -Bob

[RussMcB]

Follow-up...

Well, I finally finished this saga. A real challenge. The pin itself wasn't a big deal but getting the high beam follower (aka dimmer actuator) was a real challenge. The only thing that saved me was a lot of people have had the same problem, so there are some decent discussions and pictures found via Google.

I had pretty much determined that I was going to have to remove the steering wheel, lock assembly and more covers to be able to see how to hold the parts together during assembly, but read one trick that surprisingly worked.

Rather than use heavy grease to hold the plastic piece against the plastic cover, and then trying to keep them together while snapping the cover back in place (impossible), I used a long skinny strip of duct tape to hold the follower against the dimmer rod (kind of against the steering column) while slowly, carefully putting the cover in place. It was quite thrilling when it worked.

It helps to understand how the dimmer switch/follower/rod work. Follow the rod towards the firewall and see how it fits into the dimmer switch. Also hold the follower in place with a finger while moving the multi-function stalk and watching how it actuates the rod movement. The stalk feels really loose and floppy (feels wrong) but apparently that's normal, and once the follower is in place (and the slack is taken up), it feels more normal.

My original plan was to do this project as part of track day prep. I'm really glad I didn't because it would've been a big panic.

I'm pretty sure it would take a LOT of luck for the follower not to fall out while replacing the pin, especially since the install requires some hammer whacking, and there's really nothing at all holding the follower in place once the outer plastic cover is removed. So, don't be surprised if it's not a 30 minute job.

[WVZR-1]

Russ - I've seen very experienced tech struggle every time they get into an earlier column, every time! Others not every time, but often. Many passed on column repairs because they knew "they" likely would NOT make money and ultimately ask another guy in the shop to do the final.

[mike100]

I wish I had seen this post earlier...been through it a couple of times. I had passed up some column work before back in the 90's, but with the sharing of information via the internet made it possible to jump into such a project.

That fiero column rebuild post is about one of the best ones out here. I added to it on a couple of forum posts I made specifically about how I did it, but linked to that fiero post as well as another on CF.

I actually didn't know about the oversize pin when I repaired mine- I just took the entire thing out so I could work on a table.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/mschrameck/Cars/RubeGoldbergDevice.jpg~original (http://s29.photobucket.com/user/mschrameck/media/Cars/RubeGoldbergDevice.jpg.html)