[Ben M.]

Has anyone ever fully disassembled one of these before? The rod mechanism that the key moves to turn the car on and off has snapped apart somewhere inside my '73. Are there any serviceable parts I can buy for this to fix it? Do I need to remove the column from the car to do it? Or am I stuck buying a new column (if not to replace, then just to get the parts)?

The factory service manual doesn't exactly go into a ton of details on this repair (or if it did I missed it).

[sport coupe]

Would a diagram help? Regular or tilt column?

[Blowd]

I did a bunch of these back in the day when I worked for a shop that also had a storage lot. Thieves break out the lower bowl to get to the sector rack. For all practical purposes you have to completely break it down to get to these.

But first things first.... Are you sure it's the rod and not the ignition switch (mounted on the top of the column). I'd first pop the switch off and make sure the rod is not moving with the key lock as the internals of the switch are easier to break than the mechanism.

If the rod doesn't move then it's time to dive in. This is gonna be long winded (hope someone doesn't post up while I'm typing). Hopefully Sport Coupe can post up a tilt column diagram as I don't have one.

Disconnect battery and remove horn button and steering wheel. You'll need a horn ring compressor to compress the horn disc down and remove the snap ring around the upper column shaft to release it.

Next take off the turn signal lever and hazard lamp button. Disconnect the turn signal harness under the dash and take the screws out of the turn signal switch. Work the harness up the column. You don't need to remove it, 6 or 7" of slack should do for this operation.

I'm a bit foggy on year model differences but hopefuly others will fill in here where I'm wrong. Grasp the key buzzer contacts (if equipped) with a pair of needle nose and pull straight out. Your key lock will be held in by a screw near the center or there will be a slot for a latch which protrudes from the lock cylinder. If memory serves horiz lines on the key switch indicate latch while vertical lines indicate screw. If no screw is present put a small flat screwdriver blade into the slot to release the cylinder. If screw type just remove the screw and pull out.

Now it's geting fun. Carefully tilt the column to the full up position (lot's of pressure on the column hold it with a rag or something). Unscrew the tilt lever, but keep it available. Once again we get to a fuzzy part, but as I recall you want to remove the pivot pins first. This will require a small slide hammer with a 10-32 screw fitted in the business end. The pivot pins are about 3/8 dia in either side of the assembly near the lower bowl. Pop them out and the upper housing is free. You will need the tilt lever again to actually disengage it from the assembly. Watch for the upper bearing to try to escape at this point. You should also expose the sector rack. This is, for lack of a better description, a loop with a toothed protrusion on it. Might remind you a little bit of an old time key (only larger and aluminum). <edit> There is a spring like wire whhich is held in by a small screw. This operates/pulls back the wheel lock pin, it is engaged to the nylon gear from the keylock rod. I think you have to remove it before puling the upper housing .<end edit>

You may find your problem right here as sometimes (rareley) the lower bowl works itsef loose enough that the rod just jumps out of the sector rack. Other times the loop an the sector rack might break, but this usually requires some effort. Also inspect the nylon gear that operates the rack ( a shaft goes through it to the keylock) .

If the rod itself is the problem then you'll have to go ahead and remove the lower bowl to get it out (I think). This is just held on by 3 star head screws into a floating plate down inside the bowl. 90% of the time these screws are loose and make for a sloppy tilt assembly so check them any way.

Hopefully you have found the problem somewhere in here and corrected it. This is a great time to replace the bearings as well!

Reassembly is basically just a reverse process. The difficult part is balancing the sector rack in place, keeping the rod in the correct place, and trying to rengage the tilt gear all at the same time. Don't worry about ling up the pin holes exactly while doing this as the assembly will kind of hold itself in place while you line those back up. Pins can be tapped in with hammer.

Make sure key buzzer works before going any further when you get to that point.

This may seem like gobbly gook without a picture. Hopefully others will chime in to correct my errors. Other wise you'll hafta bring it over to my place so I can look at it to refresh my memory .
<edit> They used to sell a "sector rack kit" which included the rack , spring and nylon gear. It may or may not include the upper an lower bearing. <end edit>

Good Luck!

[Ben M.]

Thanks a ton Blowd.

It's definitely not the keyswitch. I took the column down to the keyswitch to figure that one out. The old keyswitch moves freely without issue. The sector and rack assembly on the ignition tab I can see moves around quite easily with no resistance, which means either the nylon gear broke or the worm gear broke\dislodged itself. My main questions were related to once I have the ignition switch out, where do I go and how to do so (which your post seems to have a bit cleared up). Those pins that need the slide hammer... are they obviously exposed once the tilt is in the full up position? The service manual is not clear and the pictures are a little grainy.

Who makes\made the kit? The GM parts dealer was no help without a part number and NONE of the local parts stores have any clue what this assembly is (one place knows, but don't have a source). I have a junk Camaro that has tilt that still works, so if I can't buy a new one I am going to pirate that one and use it. Where would one get new bearings? Same story as on the sector rack kit ;-)

Another question. Can I do this with the column in the car? I really don't want to take the whole thing out but if you gotta do it you gotta do it.

'73 is the slide screw-driver tab for the key switch ;-)

[Jeff Walker]

Yes they can be repaired in the car. BTDT several times. Just make sure you go a good amount of patience.....

[Blowd]

Here 'ya go! A really well done article from El camino Central complete with pics.
I forgot about about removing the tilt spring, you would have really been cussing me if you pulled the pins before taking the tension off of it
I also like his pin removal tool, I'm going to fab up one of these to keep in the tool box.
As Jeff W mentioned it's probably better to do in car. Your going to be smacking it around a bit and it's nice to have it solidly mounted. I used to have an old Drive-in tray I would set in the passenger seat with a towel over it to keep parts laid out on.
Let us know how it works out, I'll check tonight to see if I have anything with a part number reference.

[Ben M.]

Now THAT link was great. I think I've got this one now. I've gotten to the ignition switch and from there it seems to be more of the same. Shouldn't be too much trouble to take the entire thing apart tonight and find out what broke (the ignition rod itself is still nice and stiff in the column). Hopefully it will just be the loop having worked itself out. The key had been sticking a bit on and off since I bought the car 3 years ago, but I never thought anything of it. Hopefully I will be able to locate a source of parts though, otherwise it is time to hit the wrecking yards for a 70's-80's GM tilt column car ;-)

The column is also a little loose, so getting those screws tightened up while I'm in there can only help!

[Ben M.]

Well, found out what is broken. The sector snapped in two. GM part #7819757 which has been discontinued. Yay! Hopefully I can find another tilt column with this part tomorrow...

[Held for Ransom]

I believe this is the kit you're looking for (can't remember what is exactly in the kit). Jim Shea wrote excellent papers on steering columns.

http://jimshea.corvettefaq.com/

[Ben M.]

That is 95% identical. Mine has 6 teeth and that one has 5. Also, NAPA actually shows it under "ignition switch actuator" but only without a tilt column. Looking at the books shows that they switched over ~1975 to a different one. '81 Firebirds with tilt can be had from them for $15, so maybe I'll go pick one up and see if it works (how much difference can one tooth make?)

[Super Duty D]

Ben,

I had the same problem when I had to repalce my sector gear, I could not find one for the GM tilt. The gear that NAPA had was identical but only 5 teeth, and it was listed as a MOPAR part, go figure.????
Anyway, I did find the right 6 tooth sector gear, from the poeple who help me the least in any of my projects.... Year One. See attached pics. BTW my entire key switch "locked up" because the last tooth broke and jammed and the car was stuck in Park, at a gas staition, after fueling up, in the middle of a cruse with the boys. Had to call Hagerty and have her towed. End of a fun day.

Hope this helps

SDD

I would make sure you replace with the 6 tooth design IMO.

[Ben M.]

Well, the 5 tooth design DOES work. Car moves and starts like it used to, I can't tell any difference in performance. Though I am not 100% comfortable with the 5 tooth, but now that I have the GM parts number for a 6 tooth (7805158) I can order that guy and get it in and get it replaced right, while still driving the car around without any issues so far.

[GStage1]

I have an article on our site:

http://www.buickperformance.com/tilt...lumnwobble.htm

If you need parts, let me know.....I rebuild columns all the time as well as get spare parts.