Stuck Telescopic Steering

[Xcellr8]

Thanks Gary.
On my 98, with the wheel hammered out as far as I can go, I can measure from the back of the steering wheel rim to the telescopic lever (in the down position) which is 5 1/2 inches. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a similar measurement with the column fully extended and another with the column collapsed as much as possible.

You can see from my earlier photos that the dash is out of my car. And for those who have done that job or know a little about it, the manual calls for the column to be fully extended. So, one might conclude that mine is in that position. However, the reason I took the dash out is because it was trashed when the previous owner tried to convert a red dash to black by gluing vinyl to the red leather. All because the carpet faded to pink and the seats needed recovering. Anyway, since it was trashed, I wasn't very careful about removing it and pulled some pieces more than I should have to get access.

I think the group would appreciate knowing how much the wheel telecopes anyway. Thanks again, Joe