Most likely during reassembly or storage, you collapsed the the solid shaft of the column and sheared the nylon pins between the lower half of the shaft and the upper half of the shaft. Did the same to my '72 at some point.

You'll have to disassemble it to fix the problem.

You didn't swap from a power steering gear to a manual, did you, by the way? That would explain the discrepancy...

On mine, no nylon pins available, so had to determine proper length of shaft, drill a very small hole through existing outer shaft hole into inner shaft. Then screw a small diameter screw oval head screw into it to hold shafts in proper relation for reassembly. Screw must be small enough to allow for shearing in the event of an accident where collapsing of column is necessary to avoid horn button in chest cavity...

Oval head screw is necessary to allow shaft to slide back in column housing shaft lower bearing/bushing (if equipped).

Good luck.