Pulled steering column to refinish. Was aware of possibility of shaft damage occurring so thought was being very careful. Did not remove shaft from column as felt no need for the refinish.

However when re-installing noted that now an inch or so too short to have coupler positioned properly on steering box splines,,,it is a Borgeson box with Bergman supplied coupler to replace a Mopar unit,,,while also having steering shaft end with 'shoes' ensconced at proper depth at firewall side of connector.

This shortening and possible pin shearing likely occurred while balancing the shaft/column on its steering box end on a piece of wood while painting it. Had not noticed any suspicious issues at that time however and thought all was well.

So now the column is in the car and I am unable to pull hard enough on the shaft to 'stretch' it out to required length,,,even placing some vice grips on it and tapping down on them from the firewall side. So likely will have to remove column and the the shaft.

My well founded concern is this,,,,disregarding for now any safety issues created by future lack of the shaft as designed by Mopar: if I successfully 'stretch' the shaft and get it well inserted in the coupler, the possibility exists that the shaft could walk up toward the firewall and disengage the coupler.

On the stock coupler, Mopar placed a hole at the shaft side of the coupler in which a roll pin is inserted to prevent this walk-up. In the Bergman unit this hole does no exist.

The way I see it is that I have 2 options.

1. Drill a hole strategically in the Bergman box to and insert a roll pin ala Mopar.
2. Remove the shaft from column, calculate how long the shaft needs to be, insert 2 pieces together and drill a hole and insert a plastic screw as suggest by another member,,,see post below my post.

Either should prevent the possibility of a walk-back if it is even possible that such an event could occur,,,which if Mopar put their pin safeguard in place, they likely felt could happen.


Solution number 1 is my preference,may not have to remove column and shaft if someone could tell me how to stretch it, that is,,,and not have to be concerned to calculate an exact length to shaft components before drilling a hole,,,although witness marks may be apparent when/if I tear it down.

Seeking opinions and/or possible other alternatives.

The photos are of column in primer before paint. The 2nd is an old photo of the Bergman coupler,,not very clear,,to give an idea how it looks compared to stock Mopar.

My wife is reminding me,,,,that I am going thru all this because for what reason,,,that I felt the need to paint my steering column! What, are you nuts?

Stick the end in a vise and then pull on the column. It collapsed back inside when you were working on it.The solid steel shaft slides inside the outer tube, because, the nylon pins in the shaft have deteriorated. It's not a problem or dangerous. Most everyone is driving around with those pins shot.

Did you switch from power steering to an aftermarket manual box?

If so the column will be short. You need to knock out the nylon pins and move the shaft to the manual length and re-install the pins

Removed steering column. Measured steering shaft, it had shortened from where it had been by about 1.5 inches. Spec calls for 40.73 inches for a PS equipped car.

Shaft for some reason could not be pulled back to 40.73 inches,,,it was really jammed.

Using a large crescent wrench adjusted to the size of the 'inner' shaft, I had my wife hold the wrench against the top lip of the outer shaft, while I held onto the inner shaft,,,hanging the shaft vertically, I pounded on the side of the crescent with a BFBH(big f#%brass hammer) stopping occasionally to measure until it was at the required 40.73 inches from tip to tip. It really required some hard hits to get it there.

I was concerned about possible walk-back out of top firewall side of coupler and as was a Bergman supplied coupler required for Borgeson steering box and had no pin as in stock coupler, decided to drill a whole thru the inner solid shaft and screwed a brass wood screw very tightly in the hole so as outer shaft would be unable to walk-back up the upper inner shaft and out of coupler. Given how tight the inner fits the outer, unlikely, yet even with my caution the shaft did shorten,,,and Ma Mopar does place a pin in the firewall side of the coupler,,,likely just in the rare case.

Hard to discribe, here is a photo that may help.

Still do not know why this shaft collapsed as I was very cautious,,,,but what was more puzzling is why it was impossible to stretch it back to normal without smacking with the big brass hammer. All is well now, finish on column looks pretty good and about ready for upcoming Mopar Alley event June 12th.

As an aside, I had purchased a Dorman coupler Repair kit, which consisted of several small parts,,,shoes, spring, orange seal etc.

The holes in the shoes that fit over the horizontal pin at the base of the shaft were ever so slightly smaller than the original 'shoes' that is was replacing. Therefore will not fit. I took the time to measure them,,,stock is .333 inche holes, the Dormans are at .330 inch diameter. Size of horizontal pin too is .333 inch, therefore Dorman shoes will not fit over it.

Bet you cannot guess where they are made. Yes that is correct. I did not bother to hone them out, just reinstalled my originals.

Bad Day at Black Rock was a great classic movie.

The purpose of the plastic shear pin is so that it will shear in the event of an accident. Don't have a metal screw in the hole.

From what I have been able to find, the Mopar supplied kit to renovate the shaft with replacement shear pins is out of production and that any NOS kits that one may find have long lost their effectiveness because the chemicals have turned to soup.

The purpose of the screw is to eliminate any possibility of 'shaft creep' which in theory could cause the shaft to again shorten and pull up out of the Bergman supplied coupler leading to a complete loss of steering.

Competing disaster scenarios, being impaled by the shaft if I should rear end another vehicle or smack a tree, or have the steering wheel be completely disconnected from the steering box.

As previously noted by others, in most of our old Mopars, any perceived protective elements of controlled collapse of steering columns have long since evaporated.

I guess each must name their own poison. My choice is to drive this old car as though I am riding my motorcycle and maintain a very larger buffer about me.

Pretty sure the pin was there just to keep the shaft from losing position. It was plastic and not metal so that the collapsible function would be available. Not having the plastic pin is not a safety issue, imo. Replacing it with a metal pin is though.

You can buy plastic nails at Lowes in the fastener bins, then use one of them to replace the plastic pin. Thats what I did on my 69 RR column when I rebuilt it.

This is what I did after my shaft came out of the joint box after a 105 MPH 1/8 mile run. I did as you say you did put a vice grip on the lower shaft and beat it back down into the joint box [ assembled with all the parts } then drilled 2 - 3/16 " holes in the upper part of the joint box, then put in large cotter pins to keep it all together. It's not stock, it's not pretty but it isn't coming out again unless I want it too.

Don't use a roll pin or bolt. To me, it looks like the factory injected some type of glue into the hole. Try squirting some epoxy in there.

In a crash a typical roll pin will shear just fine I bet.

I'd rather risk that than the steering coming out and causing a crash for sure.