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Hello, All.
I'm a FNG, here, so treat me kindly, please. If you don't, I will find you and embarrass you in front of your Mom, and her friends!
Reasonably experienced. Worked on my own all my adult life. My ignition actuator retired without giving notice. Column lock cylinder just freewheels. I've never had to go this deeply into my steering column, before.
Ive torn into it, and gotten to where i have to break apart the tilt mechanism. Y'all recommend the vid I had been being guided by, but there's too much hand action and not enough parts location.
I've pulled the two T30 screws that hold the mechanism in place. Next step is supposed to be to pull the pivot pins, but nothing seems fit them. I tried every SAE and metric screw i had, as well as my tap, in both. I even went and bought the Lisle remover. No joy.
now I figure I'm in the wrong place. The online replacement pins look like what the bare end of the T30s fit into. But, I must wrong! Nothing would fit or start threading.
The dealership was a complete dead end. I am hoping someone knows this mechanism and can advise me. Help me, Obi Wan! You're my only hope!
Last edited by rudispruell; May 4, 2026 at 02:02 PM.
Reason: Typo
You probably ought to go to your library and see if they have free AllData for you to use
The tear down procedure for your 1998 column will be in there
There are also videos you should watch
Not an easy job for the gears contacting the ignition switch actuator
You can do it, I'm getting good at it by now, I've done hundreds of actuators
Watch this video on Youtube These are the tilt pins you must remove
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