Steering wheel rattling and sitting low? (it's not the tilt adjuster)

[DMCMW Dave]

Any words of wisdom for replacing such a thing? Or a procedure to follow? Or other fasteners or parts that would be a good idea to also replace with new or at least closely inspect once it's all apart anyway?

Remove the steering wheel first.

Take out the front seat, you'll be spending some time under there taking the larger bolts loose. Not 100% needed but helps.

Remove the little vent cover where it connects to the door, and remove the cardboard tube that connects it to the plastic duct. Give much better visibility to what you need to disconnect. Not 100% needed but helps.

Read the instructions on replacing the steering column bushing since it's almost the same job. As mentioned, replace the bushing if it isn't 100% perfect.

https://support.delorean.com/kb/a71/...ng-column.aspx

Quite honestly there isn't any good reason that you can't weld the cage. Or find a good welding shop to do it.

[Jonathan]

Remove the steering wheel first.

Take out the front seat, you'll be spending some time under there taking the larger bolts loose. Not 100% needed but helps.

Remove the little vent cover where it connects to the door, and remove the cardboard tube that connects it to the plastic duct. Give much better visibility to what you need to disconnect. Not 100% needed but helps.

Read the instructions on replacing the steering column bushing since it's almost the same job. As mentioned, replace the bushing if it isn't 100% perfect.

https://support.delorean.com/kb/a71/...ng-column.aspx

Quite honestly there isn't any good reason that you can't weld the cage. Or find a good welding shop to do it.

Thanks a lot, Dave.

I'll get it out of the car and then see what my options are with welding.

"After a generous amount of solvent"... oh boy, yea, and then some. This will be another thing on the car that hasn't been touched in my ownership and will probably not come apart without a struggle. That list of parts and projects is getting smaller though over 16+ years, lol.

[jangell]

I finally got around to checking this out again. The bushing at the end of the column appears to be inserted correctly. It seems to be on there firmly and doesn't shift around. I couldn't move it when I tried to just push it into the shaft. It doesn't seem to be broken either.

IMG_0155.jpg

Odd; I don't know why the photo attached upside down. You get the idea, though.

As for the cage, I did find it cracked when I took the column out a couple years ago, and poorly welded it back up. This appears to have been the cause of the current problem, because I grabbed the bottom and lightly twisted it and it easily snapped in two.

IMG_0163.jpg

So I'm going to pull that out and weld it back together more robustly than I did before (I have a TIG welder now, which I like quite a bit more than the wire-fed no-gas machine I used last time). Hopefully that will fix it.

Thanks for all the help -- I'll report back when I'm done.

-- Joe

[jangell]

Just to wrap this up: It was definitely the cage. I properly welded it this time, and the wheel is a lot more stable now and sits in the right position.

Thanks everyone for the help!

-- Joe