Collapsable steering column

[CTDavies]

I'm cleaning up the steering column parts getting ready to repaint them and this morning I took away a plastic wrapped cover which was held in place with two short pieces of insulation tape. This exposed the collapsable web and, what looked to me like, SAND! I doubt a steering coloumn is where sand belongs, but heaven knows...I have been wrong before. Can anyone confirm - either way?



Thanks

[christopher storey]

No, definitely not as it should be. It looks as though someone has sandblasted that area in the past without removing or protecting the column . The important bits are the two plastic shear plugs

[1954Etype]

Could it be old foam thats turned to dust?

[CTDavies]

I had a closer look in the workshop this afternoon, and you're probably right '54. It could be deteriorated foam. I guess foam was trapped in the cage to protect the column proper from dirt and dust? This would mean I'd have to take the whole thing apart to get some new foam in there.

[osgii]

CTDavies, I have exactly the same as yours.
It's foam, wrapped in a black piece of plastic paper or vinyl.

[CTDavies]

So that means the foam wasn't actually inside the cage but wrapped around it under the plastic. That would make things much easier. Thanks, osgii