I searched and searched and no one ever seemed to discuss rebuilding a steering column, removing excess play in it, or even posted pictures of the inside of a column to know if it's rebuildable at all. Replacement options are limited to another used OEM column, or an ididit racing-oriented column that doesn't have provisions for the turnsignal/wiper stalks or key cylinder. I didn't feel like going thru switching over my ignition system and wiper/signal controls to switches or CANbus right now, fixing the column was thankfully pretty easy.

Inside the column you have 2 'bearings'. The top bearing is a true bearing, roller bearings. The bottom bearing is a sleeve. The sleeve is supposed to have a collar, or an inside race, basically another inside ring that has grooves in it like the ABS ring around an axel that should go between the column shaft and the bushing and from my exp, usually gets destroyed or disappears all together. I used a small oring for the inside race, and a big thicker oring as a grease seal at the end of the tube, 'below' the bushing and race. It's a little hard to explain, and I can't find any pictures of what they should look like new online. Honda never sold this bushing as a replacement part it seems.

I did find Odyssey owners that complained about their column knocking, and used ARP moly grease to fix their issue. So I went with ARP moly grease. Will see how long it lasts. I might need to replace the rubber oring inside race with a proper plastic race like honda had from the factory. 3D print something, if that would even be any more durable. It's pretty easy to take apart though. Def give it a shot!

I wasn't thinking about making a write up during my repair, so all I have are some snap videos to share, but the information is good if not better this way.


Any questions, post up, I'll try to clarify.

PS the one Gotcha to deal with is reinstalling the shaft. You can see in the video the square section is just pressed together. You can insert the shaft into the tube, but use a slide hammer to pull the shaft thru the roller bearing till the snap ring groove is visible and usable. If you try to knock the shaft back in with a mallet, you will change the length of the shaft and then have to pull it back out to the proper length. I made that mistake, but I luckily had another column to measure, so the fix was minor in my case. Without something to measure off, you'd be kinda screwed figuring it out...So yeah, slide hammer it back in gently.

 

Good work man. Such a same oem parts have become discontinued and hard to find. This will come in handy