Steering shaft rebuild

My steering shaft is missing 3 of the 4 little plastic plug caps where it's designed to collapse There is absolutely no play in the shaft right now, my guess is seized, so not sure it'll perform as designed if I need it to (really bad day). I'm sure with a good whack I could break them loose, clean them up, but then what?? Pretty sure I can't reproduce the designed shear value from the factory. Any idea what I could use for the plastic plugs or some other way to reassemble this shaft?

Not a new problem - this has been discussed before here with solutions. Use the Google Custom Search at the top of this page to find Moparts discussions on this topic.

I think I read on the B body forum about someone using plastic bolts to rebuild his column. I'm looking at a similar situation some am looking for some ideas as well.

I don't know why guys get so concerned about this in a car they only put a few miles on in perfect weather. Your risk of a collision is minimal at this point in the car's life. Personally I wouldn't be afraid to throw a quick tack in there - only one - with a mig just to hold it in place. It would shear if necessary.

FWIW they sell steering kits for hotrods using similar rods and tubing. They use nothing in those at all. Its quite possible the factory put those in there for no other reason than to hold the parts in position for installation on the assembly line.

They rattle without something in there.

https://forum.e-bodies.org/wheels-tires-...repair-kit/199/

Thanks for that link mopars4ever, I'm liking the aluminum rivet stem idea, seems strong enough to hold things in place yet easy to shear if required! I like your thinking stanton, these cars are pampered these days, most aren't daily drivers. Thanks for the replys all

I have rebuilt the main steering shaft in my car. IF your shear pins are broken, then it's likely the car it came from was in a minor front end accident OR the column was bumped during shipping or something.

Anyway, what I did on my partially collapsed steering shaft (with broken shear pins) was to put one end in a vise, but vise grips on the other end & tap the vise grips with a hammer until the center shaft slid apart to the correct length.

Then, I drilled two 1/4" holes through the inner/outer pieces of the steering shaft & tapped it with a 1/4" tap. I picked this size because 1/4" nylon bolts were available in the plumbing department at my local hardware store. I screwed the nylon bolts through my tapped holes & then cut off the excess on both ends with a little dremel cutoff wheel.... viola, new sheer pins.

Personally, I would not tack weld the steering shaft (aluminum pop rivets might be OK). I have had some pretty nasty accidents over the years & I don't like the idea of being speared in the chest with a steering shaft....just sayin.