gs400dave

Last night, I dropped the steering column to put in a new ignition switch. When I went to put it all back together, the column wouldn't match up with the 4 bolts to put it back in. It was about an inch short, toward the firewall.

I got on these forums and found another thread (I think it was in the LS models) where a guy had a similar issue. He said he finally got it back together by taking the whole steering column off, using a vice and some major pulling. I think the consensus was that his column had collapsed, which I gather is a safety feature designed to collapse in an accident. Putting aside that I have no idea how it could have collapsed just by unbolting it and lowering it so I could access the ignition switch...

It was cold in the garage and I had zero interest in taking it all apart. So I grabbed the wheel and started giving it sharp yanks toward me. After about a dozen of them, it lengthened so I could get the bolts back in.

After buttoning everything up, I learned that I damaged the telescoping wheel function by doing so. It doesn't have a full range of motion any longer, and sometimes it makes nasty sounds.

I don't really care about the telescoping wheel that much. I never really use it anyway. It'll work.

I'm just looking for some insight into what happened to the telescoping steering function. Maybe I'll go in and fix / replace it this Summer. And why did I have to yank on it to get it back far enough to reinstall the column on the bolts in the first place?

Yeah, hack-job, I know. But I was cold, frustrated, and it "worked."

Alphaman19

Well, if it didn’t fight you coming out then it shouldn’t going back in.

if you fully removed the steering column (and why would you) then my guess is that it isn’t fully seated into the rack and pinion knuckle.

GeniusGS

I hope someone can chime in with the direct answer to lengthen the part of the steering column shaft to extend it back out. I'm still an inch short just like you but I'm not going to yank on it. If I have to pull the column out then so be it but I want to do it the correct way.
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GeniusGS

If you look at this old thread he says he pulled out the column and removed the four pivoting bolts and then he was able to slide the shaft out more to the right length. I haven't done this yet because I'm not confident enough on exactly what to do and if it will work lol

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...bly-issue.html

gs400dave

I didn't see that thread in my searches last night GeniusGS. Here's that one in the LS forum, it has some diagrams that may help you understand what heisledg was talking about (I'm sure the column is about the same.)

You should also post in his thread to see if you can get a response.

gs400dave

That's what I said Alphaman19! I was exasperated.

GeniusGS

I figured it out!!

​​​​​​So after giving up for months I finally decided to pull out the steering column out of the car...

Just as heisledg said in his thread, once you pull the column out you can see what's going on. The steering shaft on the column is made up of two pieces pressed into each other. For some reason when you drop it it one half compresses or sinks into the other. Here's a photo of the column out

I disconnected the 4 pivoting hex screws to expose the whole shaft



Here's a close up shot of where they come together. I was actually able to pull out a little bit of it by hand but not much. You can see the clean gap which was pulled by hand.



I had a feeling that it still wasn't out far enough but I was happy to make some type of progress so I attempted to put everything back together and it still was just a tad short. I can't really explain what I did to get it out but it was a *****! If I had a table vice it probably would've been easier. You can see in this picture how much it really comes out.



This little C clip had slid down the silver part almost to the end. I never removed it because I had a feeling that it belonged somewhere where I couldn't see it up top. When all was done I just clipped it on the first ring.