In true Ford fashion, I am about to replace my sagging headliner, finally decided to doll up the old truck. It has been a great truck for me. Yesterday I stopped at a store, shut the truck off and the radio stayed on. I then realized the engine never shut off. I need to replace the tumble because you can pull the key out in any position. I figured it broke. What I found was that I can make the starter engage, but the key is just plain loose and feels disconnected otherwise. I pulled the tumbler, aside from the key coming out, it is fine. Then I went for the ignition switch. Its fine. I guess something in the link between the two has broken. I found that there's a little plastic link called an actuator. I must say, it looks like this is going to be fun. Luckily for me, the engineers at Ford seem to have designed the entire column around this crappy little plastic piece that fails. And it appears that I will have to totally disassemble the column to get this little thing changed out. I thought about getting a junkyard steering column but there's no point, I may as well put new parts in this one so I can prevent this failure as long as possible. I can't be the only one that has had this happen. Anyone have any advise? This is my daily driver so when I get the parts I will need to do the job start to finish so I can continue to use the truck. For now I will have to drive it by starting and running it from a hanging ignition switch.

 

You might find this helpful from our friends at FSB: Steering column teardown and ignition actuator replacement in a 1995 (92+ Columns)

 

Thanks for that. I've been doing some research on this, seems like a bit of a chore!!
One thing people have said is the actuator pin comes out, or gets loose and disconnects. I was wondering, if that is the case, can that pin be accessed or does it still have to result in a full teardown of the column?

 

No idea about your last question.

 

I think I am going to tear my column apart next weekend. I am going to order the new plastic parts from the key to the switch. I am also replacing the ignition switch itself. After running the truck using the ignition switch by hand all week it seems like it is pretty stiff, which may be why the actuator broke in the first place. May as well just get it done and have it all new! I will post more when I dig into it!

 

what year truck? make sure you get the rite parts!!.
91 and older uses a metal actuator, 92 and newer is the plastic parts.

 

Mine is a 95. Plastic of course!
Looks like I need 2 pieces, the upper with the teeth and pin, and the bigger piece that goes into the lower section and actually engages the switch itself.

 

Anyone know that the lower plastic piece is called? I search for ignition actuator and all I find is the top piece. In the link attached on post #2 in this thread, the unit I am referring to is #61. I have ordered #64 which is the upper piece with the pin and gear teeth. I don't want to take this rig apart without the other half!
I do also have another question, and this might be stupid but I haven't had one of these columns apart before this far so I will ask anyway. Why is it that you need the entire assembly out of the truck and why do you need to remove the steering shaft to replace these parts? It seems like I could remove the wheel and the upper (tilt) section and it would be right there looking at me. Is there something else there that prevents access to the actuator? I guess I will find out when I dig into it, The link attached at the beginning of the thread (post#2) has a great amount of info, but they were replacing bearings as well as the plastic parts for the ignition. I thought maybe that is why they fully removed and disassembled the entire unit.

 

i do the 91 and older in truck. very easy.
only reason i can see to remove it from truck is to add hours to the repair.

 

Just wanted to update everyone. I finally tackled the ignition switch actuator. It isn't that bad to do but it takes a little while. If I had another one to do the same day as I finished mine, I bet I could do it in an hour or so. Took a bit longer the first time though.
As other people said, it takes a total disassembly of the column to replace that stupid little plastic actuator. I attempted to just remove the upper section, but you DO have to remove the lower shaft to allow the lower plastic piece to come up enough to insert the new actuator. You could remove the shaft with lower housing in the truck but you have to remove the shift lock and everything to be able to slide that plastic piece out. To do so, you need the lower section of the column out. If I ever do another one, I will pull the wheel off and the switched and just take the whole thing out, replace needed parts and put it back in. It took me twice as long trying to avoid the inevitable. The column is easy to remove, disconnect wiring and switched such as signal and ignition switches, pull wheel off, pull wiring off column that are held by a couple of plastic clamps, unhook the steering shaft with 1 bolt and 4 nuts to secure it to the dash, disconnect the shift cable (if auto trans) and it is in your hands. Then with auto trans, remove the shift lever assemble and the shift lock. Remove the circlip on steering wheel side of shaft to remove the spring and signal cancel gear,then the 2 tilt pins(#30 torx) and be careful not to send the tilt spring flying, then you can separate the 2 parts of the column. Then pull the ignition lock lever from the lower column by tapping out a small pin. This lever engages the lower plastic piece, you can't remove the lower plastic without removing this little lever. Then remove lower steering shaft spring and you can pull shaft out of housing. Then you can slide lower plastic piece out and either replace it or reuse it by installing new upper actuator, and then reassemble everything. My issue was that the pin wore the upper actuator and the pin fell out. Lower was fine and I reused it. I got the actuator from Ford for like $20. I greased the actuator and installed new ignition switch and tumbler at the same time. Works nice and smooth now.
Make sure you have a good pair of circlip pliers. That upper clip that goes under the steering wheel is a rugged clip! Other than that its not a bad job. If that actuator was aluminum this would probably never happen. But hey, the truck is a 95 so I guess I can't complain!

 

General diagram. Will not instruct finer points of replacing actuator. Picture of likely failed part upper right
https://www.bing.com/images/search?v...t=0&ajaxserp=0