The tilt steering column in my 88 suburban is really loose and is moving in a " X " pattern now without touching the tilt lever. It has the shifter on the column. What do I need to replace (besides the whole column) or how hard is it to take apart and rebuild? Thanks for any help.

Some guy who was trying to sell me a truck was saying "all you have to do is tighten 2 bolts in the steering column". He was trying to sell me the car though. BTW dont grab the steering wheel getting in, or the door actually. That is what throws both those off.

Charlo

You have to take all the stuff out of the top of the column (should be a diagram in a manual...you will need a lock plate compressor to do this). Then you have to pull out the pins that the wheel tilts on. You have to use a slide hammer (the bigger the better!) and a screw to take them out. Then you will have access to the bolts (which often come loose and cause the play). You need a set of external torx sockets (the heads of the bolts look like a regular torx bit and the external socket looks like the head of a regular torx bolt). Take them out and clean them then put some red locktite on them and make sure they will never come loose again!. It took me about 4 hours to do this...about 1 hour to remove the stupid piviot pins!

Goddamn I must be good.
It took me 45 min to fix mine.
All 3
Ah hell having the right tools for the right job must count for something LOL.
And yes it took me less than 2 beers to fix the burb.
Although the ol lady bitched about it for 2 months LOL

This si a simple fix with the right tools. This is a very common problem on GM vehicles with tilt columns. I have over the years done several of these and have all the tools to do this.
The first one you do is a PITA because it is a learning process...Get a good manual with a parts breakdown, and you won't have any problems. The hardest thing to do, if you don't have the special tool, is getting the cover plate snap ring off. Once thats off, it pretty much a breeze. :skull:

Thanks for the info guys. Does anyone have a scan of the steering column shop manual pages? Thanks.