Fox steering column lock Q

[ChickenLips]

I'm about to put the dash into my 91 Fox. I notice the steering wheel lock is not engaging with key removed. I've tried inserting, rotating the key then removing. No change.

I have key out and the wheel spins freely.

I checked another column I have in inventory and it locks with key removed.

Any ideas on why the column lock isn't engaging? Btw it did lock prior to dash removal. I did drop the column to get the dash out. It's an airbag column btw.

[ChickenLips]

I did a little investigation. The bar that slides within the column locking assembly has popped out of place.

I'll be replacing the whole column but will post some pic's as this is an interesting and unusual problem. I figured this out after dissecting one of my pre airbag columns.

[ZR]

Following.

[ChickenLips]

My aging back has finally green lit resuming project work.

I have a column from an auto car that doesn't have the under column key release button. Looking at that, the three discussed here are all from standard trans cars.

Frankie donated a steering column to the cause (Thanks Frankie). The donate column also doesn’t lock so it looks like dissection time. I’ll call the suspect part the “bolt” as in bolt from a bolt action rifle.

The following columns and locks are all set to the lock position, even if the key is in, the columns should lock.

First column is the one from my 91. The bolt is sticking out of the housing, column doesn’t lock.

Second air bag column, doesn’t lock.

The removed lock housing from a non airbag standard shift car does lock. Flipping it over you can see the piece of the bolt in the lock position in what I assume drops into a notch on the steering shaft.

I may end up swapping the good assembly onto the 91 steering shaft. It appears to be interchangeable. I am curious as to what’s going on inside.

It’s date night and with my back recovered, this job has dropped in priority. I’ll update as things progress.

[ChickenLips]

I just dug out the steering column I pulled the lock mechanism from and you can see the notched ring on the column shaft the locking mechanism engages into. The ring and shaft on this column have moved quite a bit as I “love tapped” them apart. This would cause a misalignment between the notched ring on the column shaft and the bolt.

I think the column Frankie donated just needs the inner shaft moved a bit for the bolt to engage the ring. I’m still going to dissect the 91 mechanism to see why it spit the bolt out of the housing.

It looks like I can probably just swap in the second airbag column from Frankie.

[ChickenLips]

so I figured out why the donated column didn’t lock. Part of the “bolt” assembly is missing. I’m getting good at pulling these apart. There is a pesky c clip that holds the bearing in place thats’ a PITA but otherwise not a big deal. Late start and early finish, no time to get to the column with the “bolt” spit out.

[ChickenLips]

Well I found some of the locking internals to be missing from the 91 column I pulled. No spare parts in the column, so it must have been my imagination that it had ever locked.

I have 4 assemblies. Two with the piece required to lock the shaft. All are interchangeable. One is from a 91 auto and doesn’t have the under column button to release the key. I could install this one to do away with that pesky button. I’m going to install one with the release button. Not for safety but because the first time my ex wife borrowed my car she lost her mind trying to get the key out. Incidentally from what I can figure the release button is so you can’t pull the key and lock the column while driving.

The 91 column I pulled from my project has a slightly different “bolt” with an extension. Turns out it didn’t get spit out.

I can’t figure out where the missing internals went as the whole works would have had to been taken apart to remove the important bits. The tumbler durns a mini rack and pinion with the “bolt being the rack, and the tumbler turning the pinion. With the tumbler removed you can see the pinion is held captive by a c clip.

I’ll likely transplant the missing bits into the original 91 assembly I pulled.

[ChickenLips]

Correction to previous post on how the pinion is held in place.

Pre airbag cars are C clip

Air bag cars have a clip/washer type arrangement. See attached photo.

After several goes at it I re-assembled one good post airbag locking assembly. Pro tip on the tumblers. When you have them out of the housing DO NOT rotate the key in the tumbler. The result will be 30 minutes of fiddling with mini screw drivers and lock picks to get back to correct position.