Steering columm bearing kit

[cjbiagi]

Parts manual does show a seal between the end of the plastic bushing and the triangular part on the firewall. Not exactly sure what it is sealing.....

[gt350fme]

Got my curiosity up and checked my blow up diagrams of the steering columns, tilt steering does have a bearing and shaft seal at the firewall, non tilt steering has nothing there at all to seal out heat and dirt as I remember mine being this way.
Shouldn't be to hard to make a seal of some kind to go behind that clamp.
I would post both diagrams but I am currently unable to do so, text only at this time.

[cjbiagi]

Hmm, I am looking at 1971-75 manual steering Vega diagram (non-tilt) and it shows a seal of some sort. Power steering definitely shows a bearing and seal...

[Greybeard]

I'd like to thank everyone here at h-body for the help they give, knowledge shared, and research they go to in helping others out. I've been active in other forums, and at times wondered if there were any adults in the house.
Again, a special thanks to those who have taken their time to help me with my issues. (I know I have issues cause women keep telling me, and they are never wrong)

I guess my next step is to pull the wheel and take a good look. It appears the turn signal stuff is generic GM as there are many parts on eBay for it. I haven't found any reference to the bearing yet, but can't really see the bean counters at GM allowing it to be a one off on an Eco car.

Thanks
Mike

[cjbiagi]

Be careful buying stuff off ebay that says it fits, a lot of stuff shows up as "fits Vega" but it doesn't. When you do a ebay search you always need to add a ( - ) symbol followed by something. For example, search Monza and then add a -corvair. It eliminates a lot of generic stuff that doesn't fit.

[Smiley]

1965-1979 GM (non-tilt) UPPER STEERING COLUMN BEARING 7800269
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-1979-GM-UPPER-STEERING-COLUMN-BEARING-7800269-/161242120432?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item258ac780f0&vxp=mtr

[gt350fme]

Hope this helps, funny that the non tilt diagram does not show the upper bearing but we know its there.
Note the aligning spacer diagram for non tilt, it just centers the steering shaft at the firewall, just center the shaft the best you can and tighten all up.

[Smiley]

The jacket seal goes inside the dash bracket to seal the outer lower tube at the firewall.
The upper bearing comes staked into the upper housing, sometimes they pop out like mine.
It appears the lower bushing is only to reduce friction against the square clamp.

[Greybeard]

Thank you.
With the help here, my friend who has a repair shop that has contract with the USPS and does at least one steering columm a month has located the parts we think are correct. I'll get back to everyone as to what we find and what parts work. My buddy is a smart man, and unless we have some kind of unattainium part, we will get it done.
Thanks again for taking your time to help me.
Mike

[gt350fme]

Just curious, how did this turn out?