Steering Column Removal

[DC3]

Came down with a bad case of while-I'm-at-it-itis while putting in a stereo. I now want to replace a cracked speedo housing, repair a bad trip odometer and insulate behind the left dash. I need to remove the steering column in order to get the dash out.

So, I am following Jim Shea's steering column removal paper. I've disconnected the back drive cable. My problem is the back drive lever on the column is in the way of removing the plate the back drive cable is attached to. I cannot seem to rotate the back drive lever to a vertical position so I can remove the plate and then the column.

I guess I'm missing something. Is there a trick to this?

Car is a '73 with auto tranny if that info helps any.

Thanks for the help.

DC

Followup: I figured it out. I could tell the one mounting bolt was riveted to the plate and I thought both bolts were the same. Once I figured out the bolt behind the back driver lever was a carriage bolt, I was able to rotate the back drive lever down toward the transmission and then push the bolt through from the inside. After that it was a simple matter to remove the plate, unbolt the steering column, and lower it.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

drive lever? column interlock??? The plate seems to have 2 studs welded to it but one of them is a carriage bolt, you can remove the nut and tap it out. Then you can simply slide the bracket off.



the one on the left is the carriage bolt, it will come out.

 

[DC3]

drive lever? column interlock???

I had a brain drain on the common terminology. Back drive lever is how Jim Shea refers to the interlock system lever in his papers. You're right. It was simple to slide the bracket off once I figured out one of bolts was a carriage bolt and I could move the lever out of the way to push it out.

DC