'69 steering column/housing

[irun5k]

I've got my steering wheel, turn signal switch, etc. out right now to replace the electrical part of my ignition switch.

I'm noticing that without the wheel on, the whole housing moves in and out- there is quite a bit of travel (e.g. toward the back, and front of the car.) I'm having trouble finding a good schematic to understand what is going on.

The passenger side of the housing has an Allen bolt through a long slotted hole. The drivers side does not- I think it may have fallen out at some point and at the time I wasn't sure where it came from.

Anyway, would appreciate any insight on the movement, and what the long slotted holes with the Allen bolts is designed to.

[irun5k]

OK, after some investigation I understand why I was confused. The driver side bolt is missing but the passenger bolt is in place. I thought this would be enough to secure things and prevent telescopic movement- yet it didn't.

After further disassembly, I can see that the driver's side plate that the bolt threads into is secure- it won't slide out. However, the passenger side plate slips out easily, which seems to be where all the movement was coming from. Even thought the alien bolt was tight, the thing it threads into is moving all around.

Stupid question but how is this threaded plate supposed to secure to the larger clamp structure? The one that is loose slides right off and the one that is tight won't budge yet I can't tell why.

[irun5k]

So by turning the threaded plate around, or upside, or something, it fastened on tightly to the bracket and doesn't slide off now.

I have no idea how this is all supposed to work. I may be overlooking it but I don't see anything in the Bentley and I can't find a good write up. A couple of old posts here make it sound like this bracket is designed to work in concert with the collapsable steering column?

Are the threaded plates supposed to slide easily off the bracket? Someone here mentioned that the steering wheel will side forward when the steering column collapses...

[irun5k]

Just closing out my monologue here in case it benefits someone in the future. There is, in fact, some info on this in the Bentley.

The aluminum clips that the Allen bolts thread in to were originally attached to the bracket with plastic rivets. In an accident, the rivets would sheer away, the steering column would collapse and the steering wheel would move away from the driver toward the front of the car (thanks to the breakaway bracket setup.)

In my case it seems the rivets are gone from at least one side. Not sure that matters and even if it did matter I'm not sure what could be done about it. Also the threads in one of my clips are stripped. I think this is my primary problem. Will either try to find another or an insert.

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice job!

Here are the nuts. $35 plus shipping.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2412455

Good luck!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!