03 Steering column, lower (bearing?) retainer

[JJinSFL]

03 Expy 4.6 2wd. Steering shaft had considerable play. Finally found the cause - column shaft can extended out from the column. It seems fine otherwise. Looked at a lot of column breakdown photos and an stumped. Something seems to be missing but, what? Seems there should be some sort of retainer stopping this. Recently acquired this 160K mile expy and, other than it was one owner, don’t know the history – it appears column has been worked on in the past. Really hoping to resolve this without pulling the column and any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Hamfisted]

What's the steering wheel doing ? There's a snap ring under the clock spring at the steering wheel end. Is that still in place ? Have you pulled the clock springs off ?






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[JJinSFL]

What's the steering wheel doing ? There's a snap ring under the clock spring at the steering wheel end. Is that still in place ? Have you pulled the clock springs off ?






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Pulled clock spring and steering wheel. Upper end of the column is good w almost no play. Only issue seems to be the area closer to the firewall.
I even pulled the lower steering shaft to be sure there wasn't further issue elsewhere