[Lynn Eades]

Quote: Disassembled a steering column and removed the mounting plate that holds the lower bearing. Removed the bolt at the base of the steering column that engages with the linkages, who knew this was screwed in? Tried everything else (apart from breaking it). Will get new item machined up in the next 2 weeks. The pic showing this apart has a yellow arrow, this is pointing to a thin sheetmetal dust/water cover that may have protected the bearing. Unquote:

The bolt threads into the spider (7/8 UNF?). It has a washer under its head that is folded down against the spider, and another part up to hold the hex of the head.
The plain shank goes down through the clevis slots, under which is a washer, followed by a castle nut (3/8 UNF?) with a split pin.
The dust excluder has a felt seal in it, and the bearing housing in later carriers has a grease nipple in it. The felt in the dust excluder runs on the top of the bearing carrier.