I have stripped my steering wheel off and reached this point (see picture). I cannot now seem to remove the trem/cowl/bevel that sits behind the steering wheel. The steering column seems to move back and forth half an inch allowing a gap between the two halves of the bevel but the bearing (which had a rubber seal around it that I removed) seems stuck fast, unless it's not designed to come off...in which case, how the hell do I get the bevel/cowl part off...?
I want to remove it as it's gone from Column shift to Hurst shifter, so I want to "doctor" this part of the interior.
Cheers in advance.
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Last edited by Anonymous on Thu Apr 14, 11 4:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Under the rubber around the bearing is a spring clip in a groove in the shaft remove that and then the bearing can be pulled off. To release the cowl there is a Allen key grub screw under the gearshift level on the coloumn it is under the spring that helps locate the gear shift level.
Cheers Anton, I will give that a go. I didn't look at the side of the bearing, so hopefully all will be revealed.
The Haynes manual for my car covers a myriad of Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge models and my dash does not appear in there. It has a straight horizontal speedo rather than the circular type they show in the book. I'm nit sure if this is original for a 71, but I'm going the street rod look anyway.
No it's not, there should be a small circlip on either side of the bearing, one or the other often gets dislodged when someone got overenthusiastic removing the steering wheel, normally just needs refitting into it's groove. You need to get yourself a factory service manual
I did remove one circlip to get to this stage, but again, its fitted with a non-standard steering wheel and it went from Column shift 318 to 440/727 hurst shifter so it must have been messed about with then. I'll have to get the service manual (thx for the link) and see what parts are needed.
I bought the manual, but its yet to arrive. However, I have had a really good look at the bearing and there are no circlips or anything seemingly holding it on, but the bearing will not come off the steering rack stem, it seems determined not to come off.
I wonder if the steering column needs to be removed from the rack at the base, and then the column gets pushed downwards...??
the bottom of the column above the box has a section on it that you would be hard pushed to draw through the main column case.
not sure if it comes off on yours. it doesn't on mine
if your column case is designed to have a shifter on it then there will be a smaller diamter tube down it for the shifter stuff
which the steering shaft goes down the middle of as well
however
top of you column has a bearing that holds the shft in place
it is hold down by a thin thin snap ring.
i couldn't see it on mine for looking......
took me a frustrating morning
i eneded up undoing the column from the stearing box
undoing the 2 or 4 big bolts that hold the column case and gasket to the bulkhead
undoing the 2 big bolts that hold the column case bracket to the underside of the dash
when i say undoing i took off the bolts into the base of the dash but i did not undo completely the bolts at the bottom of the column for fear of the captive nuts in the bulkhead having come off
anyway
this allwed me to swing the column surround round toward the drivers door, by heaving on the steering lock mount and the idicator switch mount
once that is done you can remove the ignition/steering lock by undoing the massive chese head screws into its base
once that was off everything slopped about enough for me to see the wood for the trees and sure enough there was the ends of the snap ring or circulip facing downwards (well to one side now i had turned the column) in a mixture oif grease toast crums and hair....
Nice
once done i could pull the central shaft up and down so the fat end that fits to the junction of the steering box moved up towards the bulkhead
Dave
what ya trying to do ???
Dave
The Greater Knapweed near the Mugwort by the Buckthorn tree is dying
By the time I get to it next week, hopefully the CD workshop manual will have arrived so I know what I'm looking for. I'd rather not pull out the steering column unless I have to.
As its been converted from Column to floor shift, I want to tidy up the surround and get it powdercoated as its chipped and broken where the shifter was.
However, I now need C-4044 Steering shaft remover to pull the bearing away? There seems to be no clip behind the bearing according to the manual.
From what I can see, I've removed everything I need to, I just need to remove the bearing now. All this just to get the bloody steering column shroud off...!!
Any advice...??? Where can I get the tool....maybe I just hacksaw the shroud off and leave it that way...!!!
if someone can confirm that the bearing just pulls off the shaft then I can make something up to do the job...if it's fixed and pulling at it will damage the column, then I'd rather order the right tool for the job.
This is basically the same process as mine, and probably many other members cars here. It seems the bearing does just pull away once the Upper Snap Ring is removed (mine is absent, which is why the shaft moves up and down an inch). My bearing is really tightly fitted so I'm going to try a ton of WD40 and if that doesn't free it, then I'll find a tool to do it.
allowing a gap between the two halves of the bevel but the bearing (which had a rubber seal around it that I removed) seems stuck fast, unless it's not designed to come off...in which case, how the hell do I get the bevel/cowl part off...? 
