After identifying the play in my steering to be one of the joints in the column itself then I rummaged around in tne snow last night and manged to get the column out wihout too much trouble (except for not being able to feel my feet by the end)
Anyway had a look at the part in question and took it apart to find it's a set of bushes in the universal joint that have worn and I thnk these will be almost impossible to find and replace on their own.
Contacted a delaer to find out the price for the BARE column is £354 !!!!!!!!!!!
Have tried several after market part dealers with no luck and also filled out several on-line forms for breakers and such but still nothing !
So if anytbody knows of anybody breaking a HiAce aged between December 82 and July 88 then I would be very interested. Or if anybody has the details of any part suppliers that may have the column (Toyota Part No 45210) then please let me know.
Thanks
Gray