Squeal from steering tilt mechanism

[emm3seven]

Before I tear into it blind, has anyone else dealt with an extremely noisy tilt mechanism on the steering wheel? Sounds like something really really needs some grease, just a horrific squealing sound while it’s moving in certain positions. As a workaround I normally set it and forget it and have turned off the auto-tilt-up function on egress, but I’d like to dig in and fix it.

[VStar650CL]

The tilt actuators use a right-angle gearbox with an acme-threaded shaft and pivot block, and both the gearboxes and shafts have been known to get short on grease. They aren't difficult to open up if necessary, but you will need to deal with retracting the brushes if you R&I the motor.

[emm3seven]

Great info, thanks. I'll go poke around in the FSM, but do you have a high level sense of what effort is required to pull the actuator? Is it a "pull the steering wheel and airbag and combination switch / spiral wire" sort of effort, or is it closer to the effort needed to install shifter paddles?

[VStar650CL]

Been a long time, but I think you just need to pull the clamshell, IIRC the wheel itself doesn't need to come off. My recollection is that the whole actuator assembly just floats on two shoulder screws, one through the pivot block and the other through the tail of the gear case.

[VStar650CL]

Here you go. I found a shot of a JY steering column, it's just two allen heads.

[emm3seven]

Great picture, thanks!

[VStar650CL]