1973 Steering Column Issue

[greyskier]

Guy brought his 73 to me to fix some electrical issues and while I'm crawling around underneath working on the neutral safety switch I see that the steering rag joint (between steering shaft and steering box) is almost totally wrecked. One out of four bolts was still holding, it's lucky he didn't kill himself on his way to my house. So he gets a steering coupling disc kit and I proceed to repair the rag joint. The steering column had to be moved forward about 5/8" in order to get everything lined up or the fiber disc would be very distorted which is what I believe destroyed the last one. Plus the posts which are I believe supposed to provide a mechanical safety backup if the disc fails were incapable of doing so with the steering column in the position it was in. The problem now is that the steering wheel is too close to the dash and the dress up collar that goes around the column in front of the dash is too long. What am I missing here? Surely from the factory the rag joint flanges were not supposed to be further apart than the thickness of the fiber disc? Could the steering shaft have somehow been compressed 5/8"? I have never seen the inside of one of these columns but I know on other columns from the 80's the shaft is not a solid piece and can shorten in case of an accident.

 

[horse sence]

73 has a colapsable column ,the lower shaft slides into the upper shaft ,the top part at the wheel does not move ,the top bearing is heald in with a snap ring ,it is possible the snap ring broke or popped out of the groove ,pull the steering wheel and i think you can see it below the turn signal switch