Steering Column - Steering wheel moves in & out

[68ls1]

As per title, we can move steering wheel over 1/2" in and out on my 71 Blazer.

Has anyone encountered this, and what was fix.

I would prefer to order parts before pulling column and making Blazer immobile, while wait for shipping to Australia

Well after a further look it is just definitely the upper steering shaft that is moving. The column housing is rock solid. The main area of movement is where the lower rubber boot is.

[Joyridin]

Is this a tilt or standard column?

[Willys_MB]

There are several brackets that hold the column in place. I'm not really sure if it's the steering wheel/shaft or the column housing moving. If it's the column housing, tighten all the brackets.

If it's the shaft, I had a similar issue on mine that was actually being caused by the sheet metal "hose clamp" looking thing just on the engine bay side of the firewall. That clamp had broken and I didn't know it. I replaced it with a large diameter hose clamp and never had a problem again.

It's safe to say that you should go over all the bracketry that holds that guy in place. You also have the rag joint and "expansion joint" or whatever it's called, where your shaft is two pieces. It might be related to that spring joint halfway up the shaft - I believe that needs to be greased on occasion.

Good luck

[pjmoreland]

There was a recent discussion about preloading the steering column bearings with the clamp and spring in this thread:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=827154

Scroll down to post #16 to see a diagram of the clamp and spring.

[68ls1]

Originally Posted by Joyridin

Is this a tilt or standard column?

Non tilt, thanks

[heehawracing]

is the spring and washer missing ?

[68ls1]

Originally Posted by heehawracing

is the spring and washer missing ?

No is all there (sorry for delayed response, truck is off site)