HELP!!! I found this forum and am sooooooooo happy that this may help me.

We have an 1988 Ford F-150 truck and yesterday the ignition switch would not work - after some investigation and removal of the steering wheel, we found out that it was a broken actuator. We purchased a new one from a Ford dealership and the "fun" part is that now that we have the ENTIRE thing we see that it has a part that was evidently broken off and so it doesn't go back in like it came out (duh, right?) Does anyone know where a picture of a steering column is? We need a diagram to look at in order to put this thing back in the right place.

Thanks for any help!!!!

ProbChild

 

The long square thing ,that breaks off, should slide back in, and if its an automatic make sure its in park. Yeah, it should only go back in one way, Make sure the broken peice is out

 

i did mine this past thursday, it was actually quite easy...

on my 91, two screws hold the blinker guts and such in, three screws hold the shell of the guts in, and a puller gets the pivot pins out and you just slide the actuator in and hook it up, then reverse install...

 

I have a 1988 F150 and I think my actuators broke. I have tried to find a diagram of the steering column but have not been able to find one. Does anyone have a websiite address or know where I could get a picture to go by?

 

Where do I get puller to pull the pivot pins. Should a auto part store have one. Is it expensive.

 

well on my 87 i had to fish a piece out and then the new one was too long to fit with out more disasembly that i wasnt comfortable to do, so i trimmed it down and got it to fit. It wasnt that bad of a job. You should be able to figure it out..


LAter chris

 

Yeah, I found the info on another site. You just have to screw a #8 screw into the pivot pins and pull them out and knock the pin out that holds the part that moves to allow it to pivot (has teeth on it). It came apart real easy and the new actuator was $9.95+tax at the dealer.

 

Alright so after you took the two screws that hold the blinker guts in how did you get that out, mine seems to be caught up on some wires or something.. do you know what im talking about if you do let me know thanks......

 

Here's what I used. Very, very helpful!!! step by step pics

http://chrisb.users.superford.org/Br...ng_Column.html

 

alright, looks good its a little late to try now so i'll try it first thing in the morning..Thanks a lot

 

I used Bronco Boys instructions .... got mine running again yesterday evening and drove it today. He does not have any pix of the geared part that the pin on the actuator sits in .... my original actuator was broken right there and when I took it all apart it fell out. I also found that my new actuator in the area of where the rod attaches was hitting on the column cover when the wheel was tilted in the second from the top position, so I had to trim a little of it to keep it from binding (breaking) when the wheel is in that position. Also, watch for the little spring clips that hold the rod mechanism for the tilt release .... yeah, I should have take some more pix to send to broncoboy.

 

alright guys, i got my actuator in, but now my blinker fuses keep burning out on me, any ideas on what i did wrong?....thanks

 

Wow ... I didn't have that problem. Did you put the correct screws in the correct place, the blinker ones had a collar on them. Make sure there is nothing grounding out on that assembly, also check the hazard switch ... at least you just have to pull the wheel again to check it all out, unless you damaged the wires, then you will have to check out the entire harness to see if there is a skinned wire.

 

i took it all apart again and it seems like i had all the screws in the right places and the hazards do work i'll check the wires, replace the fuse again and see if it works

 

check to make sure you didn't pinch your wiring harness when you tightened up the 2 bolts that support the steering column under the dash. I had the same problem & that's what I had done was pinch the wires & it was causing it to blow fuses. Good luck


Jasmes