Steering Column

#1

Has anyone lowered the steering column? Any issues? I would like the steering wheel to sit a little lower.

#2

Lots of people have. I just did it this weekend. No real issues other than removing the headless bolts that fix the column to the mounting bracket.

After grinding off half of the heads with a cutoff wheel (and not-by-choice trimming away the supporting metal of the surrounding bracket) I decided to use an air chisel to cut off the remainder of the heads.

The chisel was a failure at cutting the heads, but it was a champ at vibrating the bolts loose! A few minutes with the chisel and I noticed both were so loose they spun easily by hand.

A set of longer bolts, a stack of washers, done.

#3

Not a job for those that are short on time, have the dash in, have a seat in.
A real PITA project. (pain in the ass)

RP

#4

Got both bolts out took about 10 minutes. I was able to get my welder up in that area, welded a regular bolt to the heads of the headless bolts, and out they came. Thanks for the help guys.

#5

I tried using the 2 most common non welding method I found online:
-using a punch to loosen the bolt: fail
-cutting a slot in head and use screw driver: fail

What worked for me and in less than 10 mins:
took the biggest drill bit I had (13mm), punched center of bolt head and drilled the head out. Once done, column dropped and the remains of the bolt came out by hand as there was no tension on them

#6

I just used my air chisel to unthread the bolts, no problem, came right out. I cut 1" square tube about 4" long, drilled it and found some bolts about 1" longer then was in it. Had the whole job done in about 1/2 hour.

#7

Thanks for the tips!

RP

#8

There are two outer bolts, and two inner bolts. All you really need to take out are the two inner bolts, which are oriented vertically. I also took the outer two horizontally oriented bolts off as well as I figured it would make it easier to get to the inner ones, and I just didn’t like having them there and would rather replace them.

The outer bolts were a PITA. I couldn’t get the air gun to move them, so I wound up grinding them down and using a pair of vice grips to break them loose. I figured the inner ones were going to be total bastards to get out, since I couldn’t really get a grinding wheel in there. Shot them with some Kroil and gave the air gun another try. Much to my delight and surprise, that did the trick. The first one came right out. The second required a little more persuasion, but eventually relented.

Time for a trip to the hardware store for some square tubing and longer bolts.