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MG MGB Technical - Steering Clumn movement

On my 1972 UK spec MGB the steering wheel will move 3 inches towards the driver if pulled hard. A sharp push returns it to the correct position. It will not move with the steering locked.
It is not moving on the spline at the universal joint. The column appears to be in two parts which slide within each other but in the normal position it is fully compressed. At first I thought this was a collapsible safety feature but I can't see how it works.

Can someone explain why I have this movement and how to fix it
David M
David M

David, not sure of UK spec cars, but over here the two piece shaft was indeed a safety feature. It should not pull out as you describe. It has probably been damaged when a PO replaced the steering wheel, as this is a fairly common problem. The inner and outer portions of the shaft should be pinned together by a couple of small plastic pins which will shear in the event of a frontal collision and allow the column to compress to spare the driver. I've heard of some owners replacing the pins by drilling the old plastic bits out and replacing with a bit of plastic or nylon rod. Check the archives, I'm sure this has been covered. By the way, the column will compress a lot more, but the outter coulumn housing also has to compress and has a section under the dash which will allow this to happen one time. After that it requires replacement.
Bill Young

Check out this article by Gerry Masterman. I think it addresses the problem you're having.

http://www.theautoist.com/steering.htm

Paul
PR Peterson

Gerry is or at the very least was making replacement bushings for around $35. I bought one and it is very high quality, and Gerry is a top notch guy.
Greg Bowman

This thread was discussed on 09/05/2006

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