Hi. My car came with a crappy ‘80s aftermarket steering wheel. I finally got around to replacing it with a factory one. After removing the JC whitney wheel and collar, I realized my steering column can move around quite a bit inside its sleeve. I think I have all the necessary parts here (at least I can't see anything missing in the PET) but when I bolt it all together it has a lot of play.

I am wondering if something got removed or modified when the aftermarket wheel was installed. Inside the column sleeve, around the actual steering shaft there was what looks like a 3/4" steel pipe section that I think someone just put in there to take up some slack.

Interestingly enough, if I put the aftermarket wheel collar back on the shaft it seems to hold the shaft in the center of the column sleeve and the wheel works the way you think it would. The factory one however is shifting all over the place.

Any recommendations? I really don't want to go back to the parts the car came with.

-Chris




Here’s the shaft at rest - note the clearance around the top


Here’s how much I can Move the shaft


Here’s the factory wheel


This was inserted around the column behind the aftermarket wheel. It looks suspiciously NOT like a Porsche part.