#15 and the part in the picture are completely different, though. On my '87, there was nothing like 15. The piece in the picture is bolted in three places between sections of the dash frame using bolts which are welded in place - definitely not removable. I may be misunderstanding how the column is removed from the steering shaft, but the way I was seeing it last night, the gold colored piece precludes doing so with the steering lock in place.

In any case, the lock is out now by grinding, but I am curious about alternative ways to do this procedure. If I can borrow a camera, I'll try to take some pictures and write up the simplest procedure for my vehicle for others down the road.

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1987 Mercedes 300D