My steering Colum has had a decent amount of slop and rattle since I bought my 86’ almost a year ago. Part of the problem was a bad rack bushing which I repaired with one of Rodney Dickman’s replacments about a month ago. The other source of wear was the D bar from the steering rack slid into the female bar at the base of the steering column after the U-joint. There are plastic “pads” on the male and female parts of the corresponding shafts that didn’t seem to wear well with age. My repair of the rack required removal and reinstallation of the shaft which increased the amount of slop. My solution? There are four small holes on the female receiving shaft at the base of the column. I removed the column and used these holes for a pilot to drill and tap four ¼”-20 threads. I then reinstalled the column and threaded in four ¼”-20 – ½” bolts. I should have used ¼” bolts but I had the halfs on hand. I then started tightening the top and bottom bolts in even increments until all where tight enough to not to go anywhere but also not strip out the threads. I took it on a test drive and hooray! No more steering wheel vibration, rattle or slop. My total investment zip, but anybody could to with a drill, bit, tap, and bolts. It took me about an hour and a half.
There’s a shot from under the dash. The bottom bolts are circled.
