Can't find any info on how to replace/repair steering bearing/bushing at firewall. Any takers?

 

OK, so I crawled under my dash and spent some time getting to know my steering column. The bearing is indeed a needle bearing. It supports the steering shaft as it passes through the firewall. The actual needle bearing resides in the center of a rubber disk with a metal face (metal side towards interior). There is nothing on the engine side of the firewall that conects to this bearing assembly. The rubber disk seems to be vulcanized to the metal face plate. Once I turned my steering wheel to the locked position the shaft pretty much stayed in the center of the hole in the firewall. Previous to that I had to try and hold the shaft up while trying to re-install the bearing assembly.
I could not get the rubber to start pressing back into the hole in the firewall so I applied a thin coat of grease and it finally started to slide in. Useing a long punch and hammer I was able to tap (persuade) the bearing assembly into place. I also coated the needle bearings with some sythetic grease before putting things back together.
I also check my steering rack bushings for any signs of movement that may have caused this bearing to pop out. No signs of movement and all bolts were tight. Took the car for a spin and all seems well.
Another day at the track on the 25th of May so we'll see it the bearing assembly stays put or not. I was a little worried about using some grease to get it started as I am afraid it may just pop out that much easier now.
I am surprised I did not get any response from my original post. Am I the only guy this has happened to? I always seem to have some interesting and weird issues come up.