KIDS... Don't try this at home...

Luster

Compulsively Anal
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
454
Location
Lee's Summit MO
Because I am a rather large (and grotesque) man, I managed to break off my turn signal/dimmer handle with my knee. Not good.

My friend Ken Lee offered to install a new "dimmer pivot" for me and I'm glad I let him do the work. If you've never torn into a steering column, I have some advise for you.......

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

Big job... Ken is a pro. He specializes in Vettes, that's all he works on and it still took him almost 5 hours to get the new parts in and get everything lined up so everything worked right. (He's a perfectionist.)

Nice job Ken!

(Crappy cell phone picture...)

column.jpg
 
Meh, BTDT, PIA for sure, but doo able TT wheels are the worst, obviously...they will suck up some time unless you really familiar and have all the shit straight.....

:amazed::cussing::eek::twitch:
 
Haha.. yeah, he said if he had to do it again tomorrow, it would probably only take a couple hours... (learning curve!)...

Needless to say, glad it's done!:bounce:
 
Meh, BTDT, PIA for sure, but doo able TT wheels are the worst, obviously...they will suck up some time unless you really familiar and have all the shit straight.....

:amazed::cussing::eek::twitch:

Yep. Rebuilt my TT all the way down. Best out of the car, with the Jim Shea papers at hand.
 
I've been thru a few of those..

Unless the pivot was broken in the column, usually you can grab that broken lever with a needle nose and yank it out- without taking anything apart. Then do a little fishing and thread the wires back down..
Just some info if it happens again.

Some years ago we had a customer- I think his wife drove with one hand on the T/S lever- we replaced it once a week for about 2 months. She'd be driving, someone would honk and "SNAP"..
 
Yep. Rebuilt my TT all the way down. Best out of the car, with the Jim Shea papers at hand.

Shit, try doing it without ANY aides of any kind on a '78 TT column needing everything but bought for a mear TEN BUX, and resurrected from the DEAD in my garage with my vice to hold it plus a few parts but NOthing for information...it's still in there....went to the parts store/GM stealer and got the parts...pointed to them on the screen/page in parts manual...:clobbered::bounce::amazed::quote:...
 
Yeah, mine was broken off inside the column. The metal part of the "pivot" was broken in 4 pieces and the plastic part was broken in 3. Also the cancelling cam needed to be replaced.

I was reading a C3 restoration book this morning and it said this about steering columns...
Working on a third generation steering column is fairly easy and straight-forward for an average weekend mechanic. UNLESS!!! ... it is a tilt/telescope column. It that is the case, DON'T EVEN CONSIDER IT. This is a challenge for even the most experienced mechanics. You would be hard-pressed to find a mechanic to work on a T/T column.

I don't know if it was that bad, but certainly a challenge. Glad I had Ken!
 
hehe...I remember Jim Shea and I shared some funnies about how much shit you can pack in a 2 lbs bag...I rattles off the long list of functions in the TT wheel, and he adds about 3 more I forgot about....

yuppers, i'ts one compact complicated compressed piece of work...:banghead::banghead::banghead::shocking:
 
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