can a ford steering column be tightened up like a gm column? my column has a lot of play in it, not slop in the steering itself, i mean i can move the steering wheel about 2" side-side.
Are you sure its the column and not the wheel itselt. I know my cars wheel almost came off when I was driving. Take the horn button and springs out, and make sure the bolt is tight.
no, i can watch the whole column move side to side, it moves where it tilts
There are only 4 bolts that hold it in. Some bolt to the dash. If the dash is loose it could affect it.
might just swap the stang column in if i swap the dash.
Pull the plastic covers off of the column,and on the friver side,there are two bolts that tend to loosen over the years.Pull one at a time,add a little loctite,and tighten them up.That should fix the problem.Once you pull the covers and wiggle the steering wheel,you'll see them.
Glad the question was posted! I have one that does it too. I'll have to pull the covers and check the bolts. Thanks for the info!
Ditto. I had mine apart awhile back, but didn't see the 4 bolts. I just wedged something in there to tighten it up. I'm gonna re-examine....
Thanks, vin. You're a wealth of knowledge as usual.
i wouldn't say that.I just know what I've done myself,and help where I can.....and ask for help.....a lot.LOL.
Regardless, thanks for spreading your knowledge. If you ever need anything just let me know... and I'll also chime in when I can.
Thanks a lot.We're all in it together.
You got that right. I'm sure glad all-ya'll are out there too. Before I found this site I just thought I was the only one that still loved my mid 80's 4-eye.
I hear you. This is like my new home. I enjoy this site quite a bit, I may not have much useful to add but I enjoy it all the same.
Heck, you add just by being a part of this exclusive group of nuts.
When my white coug did this, there were two torx bolts that were loose.
I finally got them to simmer down with some wood glue on the threads,,,,,,back when I was oh,, didnt have a pot to piss in so to speak.
loc-tite them. I forget what T-x size they are but the loose part will be very obvious when the covers come off and you jiggle the wheel.
Some follow up on what may be the issue. I pulled mine apart this evening and sorted out what was loose.
The culprit on mine was two bolts behind the head light dimmer/turn signal switch (they have 13mm heads). These bolts are hidden behind the switch assembly, so they are not real obvious. This means the top and bottom covers on the steering column have to come off. To get mine off I had to pull the dash cluster and steering wheel. The wiper switch needs to be removed, pull the connectors to head light dimmer/turnsignal switch (which can be tough). Remove the two torx head screws (mentioned above), pull the H/L dimmer/turnsignal switch to uncover the loose bolts.
It's a bit of a project, but well worth it! No more sloppy steering.
In my case I was replacing the wiper switch and needed to pull the cluster anyway. Just took me a bit to locate the bolts...
humm, your layout seems very familiar although i did this back in 93 on the white coug.
over the course of two or three repeated attempts to cure it finally with wood glue,,,,,,,,, comes the reason for my reply..............
be very careful and attentive to the removeal of the top cover. It has a plastic lip which tucks under the instrument cluster cover. On my car, a few times of removal and replacement broke the flex print that leads up into the speedo module.
end result was a lime green display with no numbers.
I had to snip the flex print all the way across at the break, and i had to solder in jumper wires in order to make it operational again.
86T-Bird hit it right on the head, i fixed mine today. thanks for the help everyone
Those were the bolts I mentioned on the first page.Send me money.LOL.
i remember hearing that this problem wasnt able to be fixed without getting new parts. im glad to hear they were wrong. thanks guys
My '88 has the same issue, only it needs a whole new column. The 2 out of 4 of those little grade 8 or 9 bolts are snapped off flush. Only other option would be to drill them out and re-tap, but I don't wanna risk screwing anything up. Until then, I just deal with it.
I know this is an older thread, but pics always hep me when finding stuff. Figured they would help someone new as well if I put some up, so here we go. After you remove the steering column cover, you will find the two torx screws to remove the switch. I put a red dot on them:
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d31/TheEskimo/Vehicles/103_3554-1.jpg)
And then tighten the two bolts to fix the play in the column:
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d31/TheEskimo/Vehicles/103_3555-1.jpg)
This is on my '85 Thunderbird, might not be the same on all but should give you an idea of where the play is coming from.
Pics are always good. Thanks!
if you really want to get technical about the columns they are all the same unless there was a no tilt option. in all of my TC's they have the provisions for the column shifter built into the column.