The steering on my 1970 Tilt/tele is very sloppy. A lot of movement in the wheel up and down and both left and right. Is this a hard fix? Something a non-expert in this area should be able to fix? Thanks for the hlep.
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Re: C3 Steering Problem
You have the 'fat American' syndrome.... The T/T column has a rather soft pot metal upper enclosure that pivots (tilt) against the lower column on two special steel shoulder bolts (requires a special tool to remove the pivot bolts and rather extensive disassembly of the upper column to gain access).
Over the years owners 'hoisted' themselves up/out of the car by flipping the column up and grabbing the steering wheel as an assist. The pivot bolts have eaten into the upper enclosure's potmetal housing causing the holes to enlongate/or 'oval'. That's almost always the source of 'slop' in the steering column....
The 'fix' is to disassemble the upper portion of the column and replace the upper housing with an un-worn, used, original. This part has been LONG GM discontinued, but other passenger cars from the era used the same internal part and and that's the source of spare parts for column rebuilders.
The job CAN be done with the column in the car, but there are a lot of small parts to R&R plus special tools needed to get the job done. I'd say if you don't want the 'fun' of going down the learning curve yourself, go seek out someone in your neck of the woods who rebuilds steering columns for a living, or pull the column and send it out to a specialist for overhaul (check the Services section in Driveline magazine for one specializing in Corvette)....
Figure, a steering column overhaul will typically run $175-400 depending on who does it and what's involved in terms of parts needed. Then, once everthing is back to fresh/firm, pace yourself and learn to get in/out of the car without pulling on the steering wheel as a human body 'hoist'....
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