Looking for some technical expertise concerning my 55 ford thunderbird steering shaft, I am concerned that i may be missing something in regards to driving safety.  As I pull up on the steering wheel what keeps the shaft from disengaging from the gear at the bottom on the turning gear?  I can literally pull up and disengage the gear, main reason that I really don't trust the wife to drive it.  Am I missing something, or do I just need to be careful with the upward movement?  Thanks guys

This may sound obvious , but… first make sure to push the wheel all the way down . Make sure it is flush with the steering box, then tighten the clamp next to the box to cinch it down. Then under the dash there are two large phillips head screws that cinch down the steering tube to the dash, tighten those too. Then adjust the rotating serrated collar behind the Steering wheel to create more resistance on the "telescoping " feature. Then check to see if you can still pull the wheel out to disengage it. If you can, something else is wrong. let us know what happens.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

What you are describing is really quite alarming. If you can pull the shaft and wheel up enough to disengage the gear in the steering box, you need to get it seen to immediately. The steering shaft is a press fit into the worm gear and should not be able to move up and down. Either your shaft is severely worn or your worm is worn/cracked and not holding the shaft in place.

Either way you need to pull the steering box out and replace the worn damaged parts.

Normally to get the shaft out of the worm, you need to use a pretty hefty press to push the shaft out.

Hope this helps???

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

Thanks for the info guys, I'm wondering if the previous owners didn't change this out, the shaft does not go into the gear, it goes into a "coupler" type of sleeve below the clamp in the engine compartment, which then goes into the gear.  If the worm gear was worn, wouldn't it have alot of slop when steering? It doesn't seem excessive.  

This is a TBird - not a sedan. TBird columns are two piece.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ