Now that it's finally road-legal again, my XJ6 is insisting on developing new quirks. Back in the spring, I got the steering wheel's tilt working again by replacing the broken tilt motor and control module. At the time, the reach motor was slow but working.

Yesterday I had to stop suddenly, and my weight on the wheel pushed it inwards, accompanied by a sort of ratcheting noise. This was startling. A good firm pull - with another ratcheting noise - restored it to its previous position. The reach motor rotates but doesn't move the column any more.

Did I strip out the reach motor cable, or is there something loose up in there that I can tighten down or hammer back into place? I've found the posts describing how to replace the reach motor etc and it does not sound fun.

 

The column 'reach' mechanism has a plastic/nylon gear-tooth assy for the drive and when it gets 'stripped', it requires replacement.

I just install another column but there was someone that repaired the column with metal parts.
I don't recall the details but it is possible?

Salvage yards are full of usable columns and you just transfer the lock assy.

 

I was afraid that would be the case, thanks for the info. Another job for the todo list...

 

I changed the steering reach cable a while back and it took me about 2 hours start to finish.
There is a lot of dismantling to be done to get to it (Lower panels, cabling and steering column drop), but it was great to have fixed it myself.
In your case you are not sure yet if it is the cable or the reach mechanism, so there would be some investigating to be done first.