Oversize Steering Column Pivot Pin

[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.