I took my dash apart and long story short I messed something up.

A few weeks ago after I put it back together I noticed that with the column adjustment lever up all the way, it would sometimes fall out of place and the column would lower even though it was supposed to be locked.

Well, I took it apart today to try to fix it and the **** hit the fan. I tried tightening the nut on the bracket and it felt as thought I overtightened it.

Here is the result.



Does anyone have experience with this part of the car? Is this piece bent?



I appreciate any help.

 

Well it does appear to me to be a bit bent, but I have not looked at that piece when it is installed ... I was looking at a picture and I assume this is the spring and bracket you have sitting out at the moment and can't really tell if yours is indeed bent ... I thought I would at least provide a picture of what it looks like when it has not been removed to try and get a better idea of how it should look when installed correctly

 

Thanks, man. Yeah, I took those nuts off, lowered the column and compared that piece to the other side and determined it was bent.

I put it in the vice and straightened it out but now I have the exact opposite problem. Now the tilt lever is stuck in down position. I put the spring back on and it looks like your picture and put the nut on that bolt that runs horizontally. But the lever won't go up without some serious force and I'm afraid I may bend something again. Also, now, the column is stuck where it is and won't tilt at all. How did that happen?

 

When you reassembled did you by chance over torque the nuts freezing the unit in place, perhaps try loosing the nut off a bit to free up the unit

 

Yes, I did.

I fixed it. It took a certain amount of finesse to tighten the lever, but not over tighten it so that it locks the column in place, but still has enough free play to get loose.

Thanks, guys!