‘75 Eldo loose telescoping steering wheel

[benji808]

My steering wheel has the telescoping feature, with the "latch" that moves left to right to lock the wheel/column in place. When locked in place, the wheel can move maybe 1/4" in and out if pushed with moderate force. It makes a clunking sound if pushed in, like maybe it's not supposed to do that 😊

Any ideas on what part(s) I should be looking at? It doesn't seem to be much of an issue, but would help the car feel a bit more put together if I could resolve. The shop manual has some diagrams but I'm hoping for specific direction before I open up the steering column.

[klinebau]

Most probably when you lock the lever all the way to the right, it is not tight enough allowing the wheel to move when force is applied.  If 75 is like 70, then you have to rotate the adjustment of the lever so that it tightens up a bit more when the lever is locked.  the lever is attached to a plate with slotted holes to allow for this adjustment.  The adjustment is fairly self-evident once you see it.  You will have to remove the steering wheel to access this adjustment and more details are in the service manual.

[benji808]

Makes sense - thank you! Do I need a special tool to remove the steering wheel?

[Matti R]

Hi
I think it is enough to remove only the center of the steering wheel to get access to the plate.

[TJ Hopland]

Ya just the horn pad has to come off to get to that adjustment.  Its held on with screws from the back, one in each spoke I think.  Pull it away slowly at first paying attention to the wire which is in a connector that I think pushes in and turns to CCW to release.   

[benji808]

Thank you all! You were right- easy adjustment. 3 bolts (1/4" heads) in the back of the horn pad. Horn pad slid right off (the horn contact just slid out of a small tube). Underneath in the center of the wheel was a the small plate with 3 adjustment bolts (5/16" heads IIRC) used to control the tension of the telescoping feature. The bolts being further to the left of the slots make it tighter (more tension). I took mine almost all the way to the left and it seems to grip nicely now.