I’m not putting the $100 factory bushing in, using the roller bearing that everyone is taking about.
Tried twisting old bushing out but won’t move. I guess I can drill a bunch of holes in it to weaken it.
My '69 Barracuda came from the factory with a nylon retainer that holds the lower ball bearing, not a bushing. The nylon retainer is two pieces glued together. You can defeat the glue with a razor blade, razor knife, thin hobby saw, thin flush cut dowel saw, etc. See razor blade in photo. I think that's all I used. Simply press out the bearing from the nylon retainer by hand or with a press. If you can't get the nylon retainer out of the column tube after removing the 2 screws, use a hammer rod or drive it out from above with a long bar. You can buy a special nylon glue when you want to re-assemble the retainer.
I can't remember now, but I might have re-greased the bearing without removing it from the nylon retainer.
I put 160,000 miles on my car before disassembly, and all steering column bearings were good after re-greasing. If your bearing is completely worn out (maybe not likely), maybe if you can get all the dimensions of the bearing with a digital caliper, you can buy a standard bearing from a bearing supplier for a reasonable price. If the bearing is rusty, but you can force it to move slightly, you might be able to restore it by removing all grease with brake cleaner, and insert powered household cleanser like Ajax or Comet on the balls and races and work it back and forth. This will remove most or maybe all of the rust in maybe an hour or so of back and forth. If necessary, you can add a little dilute phosphoric acid. Clean and grease. I've restored several rusty distributor advance plate ball bearings that way. Of course this bearing restoration is only good for very low rpm bearings that aren't severely pitted.
