Good point! Well, the steering column is a series of concentric tubes. The inner one is connected to the light switch, the next to the advance/ retard, the next holds the steering wheel boss, the next is the steering tube and the outer is the column. To remove the steering wheel boss, first you have to loosen the a/r clamp at the bottom of the column. Then, at the bottom of the steering box casting itself is a clamp secured with a 7/16 nut and bolt. If you loosen this, the boss can be pulled back. That was all I had to do to remove the piece of metal jangling about (I still haven't figured out what it was, but am thinking it was the self cancelling mechanism for the trafficators). If you need to do more, you will have to deal with trafficator and horn wires which go down the centre of the column. I have not had to do this, but presumably tying string to them to pull them back with might work?
Keith