VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc Steering Mast Upper Bushing

My ‘37 has quite a bit of radial play (side to side) in the steering wheel. Is there a trick to pulling out the mast upper bushing with the horn wire? Can I do it without pulling the steering column out?
The part number for this bushing is 1854761.

From my experience the only way to remove the bush at the top of the mast just below the steering wheel is with the mast out of the car. Others may have easier suggestions.
Tony

I won’t say it cannot be done but I cannot think of a way to do it without building a unique “puller” to get the old bushing out. I guess you could do something like drill pilot holes and thread very long sheet metal screws into the old bushing. By the time you do all that you can remove the mast.

It’s not difficult to pull the mast over the steering column. Make sure you tape rags over the upper end of the mast and watch carefully that you do not damage the headliner. Mark the position/depth of the mast in the steering box.

The depth of the bushing is critical to proper horn operation. Mark the depth of the current bushing before you remove it.

Attach a string or pull wire to the old horn wire. Then you can easily feed the new wire down the tube and out the access hole. I put piece of shrink tube around the wire where it comes out that hole.

Rusty, thanks for the tips. I hope to see you this year at a VCCA Meet. We really enjoyed the tours you led years ago at the Kinderhook lodge meet in the Ozarks.

Hi Matt,

Glad that you enjoyed that tour. John Matejka did the real work.

I did organize and lead one here in the quad Cities in the fall of 2020. We knew it was going to be limited due to COVID. We felt fortunate that we had 17 cars and about 35 people.

I am hearing rumblings of a tour in Ohio this September. Maybe we will see each other there.

I’ll be at the Ohio meet in September if it happens, also the June Middle West meet, and the July Central meet in Kalamazoo.