I would like to replace the upper bearing on the steering column in my 69 GTX. 4 speed car. I removed the snap ring but the bearing seems to be a press fit. Is this so? Whats the best way to remove without damaging the inner steering shaft. And finally, are these bearings still available??

There was some good advice on this thread:

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...;gonew=1#UNREAD

Let me be a little more specific. The 2 bearing housing retaining bolts have been removed. I can get them back in but something is wrong; they come up through the bearing housing too far. The nuts bottom out on the bolts and they are still loose. It's like something on the backside of the housing is missing or misaligned. My thought was getting the bearing out, pull off the bearing housing, install bolts and reinstall. The column is still in the car.

the two bolts are not tight because they are not positioned correctly ,
the heads of the bolts kind get wedged in to a small cutout on the column tube when properly assembled .
when you tighten them the friction gets them tighter and the stay in the cut out.
the collar has probably turned on the tube so the alignment slots are not catching the heads of the bolts.
I have seen bent collars also cause this .
if it were me i would take the whole thing out and slowly take it apart , using the diagram break down picture from a old year one catalog you will see how it is assembled also gives opportunity to clean and lube the lower bearing if its not shot .
PS the upper bearing is mounted in a rubber gromet or sleave not really pressed into turn signal collar.

Copy all. The heads of the bolts are in the cutouts. I had to rotate the upper bearing retainer to get one of the bolts in. I sure wish I could see behind the bearing retainer. Is there any way to do this with the column in the car? I really don't want to remove it. Also I removed the rubber grommet from the upper bearing but the bearing won't come off the shaft.

I cant say about doing the repair in the car but when i have taken 3 of my columns apart i had them out of the car and when i loosened the two small nuts and held on to the column with the snap ring off i was able to tap the shaft out of the upper bearing with dead blow hammer .
Is it rusted on the shaft?

Make yourself a little puller like this to press the shaft out of the bearing. You don't want to pound on it.

No sir there is no rust, however, the upper bearing does not want to come off the shaft. I thought about using a puller to get the shaft out but I wasn't sure if I could get it back in with the column still in the car

The bearing has to come off the shaft with the turn signal collar.
I sorry to hear you are disabled .
It only takes about 35-45 min with hand tools normally to get the whole column out of the car .
That is the only way i have done the bearings .
In my experience the lower has always failed before the top unless someone damaged the top bearing.
The shaft will collapse into the lower shaft if you try to hit the shaft with a dead blow while it is in the car. this causes all other kinds of issues .
try to make the puller as the other member suggested.

Copy all. Thank you for your time and help.