How to remove steering column cover to inspect gear indicator cable/parts

[02AutoWag]

My gear shifter indicator does not work. It currently is sitting on N and does not properly indicate what gear the truck is in.

Before I break more things, can someone advise me on how to remove the covers so that I can inspect the supposed broken wire or supposed broken plastic tabs? Anything to watch out for when the covers are off?

Thanks.

 

[franklin2]

There is one little cover you can take off around the column, near the dash. I believe it has two phillips screws going in from the bottom on either side.

If you need to get deeper into it, you will have to release the clips on the headlight switch knob and the wiper switch knob and pull those knobs off, grab the panel behind the knobs and pull it off, take a phillips screw out under the column and remove the panel on the right, and then take a torx driver and remove the upper panel that has the A/C vents, and then you can remove the cluster.

To remove the cluster take the screws out, reach under the dash and grab the speedo cable and push up on the cable while guiding the cluster out as far as it will go. Then reach behind the cluster, push sideways on the plastic clip on the back of the speedo, and pull the cable loose and then the cluster will come on out farther.

 

[02AutoWag]

Thanks for the info. I guess I read a few too many posts about people breaking things while taking the covers off...well I suppose I may have broken stuff if there was anything under the cover to break though...

1) What I found was a white plastic piece that rotates (about 1") around the column. It is located near the 9-10 o'clock position. There was nothing attached to this piece.

2) I also found a flat metal rod that runs the entire length of the column. This rod appears to swing back and forth along the top of the column. When I swing it, nothing happens.

I was guessing that these two pieces are what makes the gear indicator work, but they don't appear to be... I've read of a cable operated indicator, but didn't see a cable anywhere.

Oh, one more thing...it supposedly is a tilt wheel. I don't see a lever or anything. How do you get the wheel to tilt?

 

[riotwarrior]

What year truck is the column from?

 

[02AutoWag]

What year truck is the column from?

The busted one in question is from a 1987.

I can't figure out how the tilt wheel works in both the 1987 and a 1989.

 

[franklin2]

Thanks for the info. I guess I read a few too many posts about people breaking things while taking the covers off...well I suppose I may have broken stuff if there was anything under the cover to break though...

1) What I found was a white plastic piece that rotates (about 1") around the column. It is located near the 9-10 o'clock position. There was nothing attached to this piece.

2) I also found a flat metal rod that runs the entire length of the column. This rod appears to swing back and forth along the top of the column. When I swing it, nothing happens.

I was guessing that these two pieces are what makes the gear indicator work, but they don't appear to be... I've read of a cable operated indicator, but didn't see a cable anywhere.

Oh, one more thing...it supposedly is a tilt wheel. I don't see a lever or anything. How do you get the wheel to tilt?

On the trucks I have messed with, the indicator is actuated by a green colored string. The string runs inside a piece of hard plastic tubing which is easy to break. The string is attached to the column with a phillips screw and a large square washer. The other end of the string is attached to the indicator, and inside the indicator is a large spring. The spring puts tension on the string. As the column rotates when you select gears, the string is bolted to the column and the column pulls on the string to move the indicator. As the column rotates the other way, the spring pulls the string back. Pretty cheesy setup, but whoever came up with the idea must have taught all the auto engineers, since all the American cars and trucks I have worked on have used that system at one time or another.

The rod you are looking at running down the top of the column is for the keyswitch. The part where you put the key in at the top is purely mechanical, except for the buzzer switch. When you turn the key, it moves the rod, which moves the ignition switch, which is mounted on top of the column, under the dash. That's where all the electrical connections are made when you turn the key.

To see if you have tilt wheel, look at the hole where the turnsignal lever comes out. If the hole looks like a "T", then push down on the turnsignal lever while wiggling the steering wheel up and down. When you think you are getting ready to break the turnsignal lever off, it will suddenly move and release the wheel.

 

[02AutoWag]

Thanks again franklin2.