Repair theft damage?

[JeepTrouble]

Okay ya'l

I know that there are alot of smart guys that know alot about jeeps and cars in general, so i need your help with something. My jeep was stolen 2 months ago and finally recovered. I've fixed everything but the steering column.
The damage is so so. They broke the plastic casing around the column and i have to start the car with a screwdriver or other blunt metal object. I have people quoting me left and right prices for steering columns between $25-$350 dollors, but i still can't find the right one!!!!! I would like to know if anyone has ever had this problem and is it possible to just repair the column that i have? The key won't turn in the igniton, so i bought a new ignition, but i haven't installed it because i don't know if it would work or if there is anything that i can do to fix it and save some money, I'm a 20 college student and money is tight. Or if anyone can help me find the part for a resonable price like really cheap for a 1990 jeep cherokee sport 2 door model
the column is black and had tilt wheel and wiper delay and stuff on the column.

Please help me!!!!

Jessi

[cherokeecountry94]

I am currently fixing a 94 theft recovery myself. They broke the steering column on it and off they went. Seems to be a weak spot. If it makes you feel any better, I change mine myself in about 2.5 hours. There really isn't much to it. The only thing you will run into problems with is changing the actual ignition switch, not as easy as I thought it would be and I suggest practicing on your broken one before trying it on the new one. I picked up a column at my local junk yard for 115 dollars, it was the wrong color but I painted it and you cant even tell. To change it, start with the bolt under the hood. It is rather easy to get to and it has to come all the way out to release the column from the rest of the steering components. Under the dash there will be two large nuts, they hold the column up and also hold the safety bars to the column. Against the firewall there are two bolts that hold the seal onto the firewall. Once these are removed, and the larger nuts I mentioned earlier, the column will be able to lower down a few inches. This makes unhooking all of those wires a lot easier. If you have cruise control, dont forget to unhook the metal bar on the top of the column, it is hooked to a small plate and there is one small nut that holds it on. Once that is done, the entire column should come out.

P.S. take the steering wheel off before you do anything else, it gives you a lot more room and makes the project a lot easier.

[JeepTrouble]

So what your telling me is that there is no one nowhere that can repair the steering column? Well that really sucks

[dave92cherokee]

I have a 92 sport if it's the part that goes around the key, hazard switch, and turn signal lever then check this link out as when you are removing the turn signal switch that whole piece comes out as one complete assembly instead of having to remove and replace the entire column.
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d801543af.jsp
here's a link that shows how to remove the steering wheel for the same steering column.
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d80154377.jsp
and here's the link that shows how to replace the ignition lock cylinder if you haven't already done so as it will have to be removed to remove the assembly in question.
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d8015444f.jsp
Hope this helps you out but if it is the same then you should be able to replace it by going to a local salvage yard and telling them what year and model you have and showing them the part you need and most of the time they will have someone going to go get it but will let you go with them as well. One word of advice though is since you would already have all the tools you would need out to remove it take them with you just incase they don't have one of the tools needed to remove it which will help to speed things up.

[cherokeecountry94]

If they did the same thing to your Jeep that I had to deal with, the metal bar that moves when the key is turned will be broken. Because of this, I was not able to replace just the plastic parts around the column. There may be a way to change that bar, but replacing the entire thing was not that bad. Hope everything works out well.