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

[Luster]

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...)

 

[mrvette]

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::twitch:

 

[Luster]

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:

 

[big2bird]

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::twitch:

Yep. Rebuilt my TT all the way down. Best out of the car, with the Jim Shea papers at hand.

 

[TimAT]

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"..

 

[mrvette]

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:...

 

[Luster]

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!

 

[mrvette]

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: