[Chevelle-list] NEED HELP WITH TILT COLUMN!

[Chevellebuddy]

Hello,

Recently I decided I wanted a tilt wheel column for my
1968 Chevelle.� Now the problem is they're really hard to
find in good shape and so I bought one from Gary's Steer-
ing Column Restoration in Koon Kreek, TX for $419. total
shipped and everything all rebuilt, even came with cancel
cam and a new tilt lever.

Now the bad part was the wires were all backwards on the
column's harness so every one of the wires had to be re-
moved and reattached to their rightful electrical ends.

Then everything was working good and I bolted on a Grant
Steering Wheel I had sitting around.� That because the '68
Walnut Steering Wheel I had bought on eBay! and I was
having <it> restored at (another "Gary's") Gary's Steering
Wheel Restoration in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.� The Grant fit
right on the new column and I waited, and still drove my
Chevelle around.� Easy waiting that way!

Just yesterday the Origional Walnut Steering Wheel arrives
but then it doesn't fit.� Apparently the origional wood wheel
hub for this steering wheel is correct<---No chance it can't
be!

This hub and subsequent hubs I looked at all being the same
and recessed 3/8's of an inch under the edge and flat across.

I looked at a few pictures I had on file of '68 tilt column I saw
being sold on e-Bay! and this looks identical, but none of my
pictures shows the locking plate on the end of the column
shaft.

Then I call Gary's (The one in Texas!) and I explain the locking
plate (the thing-a-ma-bob with the three holes in it) is sticking
an inch and a half out of the bell housing of the steering column
and the bottom of the steering wheel hub is only recessed a
quarter inch = No-can-put-together-scenario, and so I said,
"Whatsupwithat!!?"

Guy says he needs a picture but doesn't have anybody there
with internet.� Then I ask him "Can locking plate be taken off
the shaft by a puller?"

He then says that he wasn't aware '68's had a locking plate.

I tell him this was sent by his company and was very explicitly
stated that it's a completely rebuilt 1968 tilt column for Chevelle.
That doesn't surprise me but still I tell him that this appears to
be a 1968 floor shifted GM steering column in all ways except
the locking plate.

Can anybody tell me, "Can I just take this off?"� Or do I have to
go and remove and reship this entire column back to Gary's?

Can anyone tell me?� HELP!

�������������������������������������������������������� --J.G. Warburton
�������������������������������������������������������� '68 Chevelle SS CVT
                                                         A.C.E.S. # 6448