I think that's somewhat my problem. I can't remember if I had the telescoping handle tight or loose but I had to take my steering wheel and pull back with decent force to get the inner shaft to come back far enough so I could start to get the new column bushing in. I banged it back a few times so now my cage and my inner shaft are even right at the end. Obviously, I need to get the inner shaft back out of the cage so I can get it through the bushing and firewall and completely install everything again.
I pulled the entire steering column tonight and I can't see where or how to get the cage to slide back which would bring the inner shaft forward.
Attachment 20079
I'm thinking I didn't do something right when I tried to get clearance on the firewall for the new bushing but there was no other way and people said the inner shaft just slides back and the cage stays around it.