I assume when you say "a lot of play in the column" you mean that the actual steering shaft is loose and has sideways movement inside the column. If the steering shaft was a nice fit with no side play and turned freely before the column got disassembled I would suggest that a component is not installed correctly (maybe something is upside down) or something has moved / shifted out of place. Replaced the turn signal switch on a 68 Chevelle columns about 20 years ago and by the time I got the old switch wiring removed and the new switch wiring installed the steering shaft was quite loose and moved sideways in the column. The upper bearing had popped out of where it ran on the race in the steering column and got hung up on it so it did not go back into the race correctly. Once I got that figured out and the upper bearing back in place the steering shaft was a nice fit again and turned freely without any sideways movement. Would suggest you study the exploded view of the column (I assume the repair manual shows it) and then verify that everything is installed correctly and nothing is hung up. Hope this helps.

 

It has a slight amount of movement in all directions, though it is a bit rigid. I appreciate the input, unfortunately I can only confirm that it is assembled back together correctly on my end. My dad was working on it before he passed and I'm betting he was in the midst of replacing something he knew needed to be swapped out for a fresh component. He reassembled it back together incorrectly before passing - it was more along the lines of what you are suggesting before I took it apart and put it back together... Really looking for a website or retailer that has a comprehensive parts list for OEM columns for 1966. I haven't found anything outside of a few pieces here and there. Some on classic industries, some on year one but they don't have what I am looking for.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

 

May check the Impalas.net forum. They're more focused on the older/vintage Impalas.

 

Sorry to hear about your father passing. I will try and look today and see if I have a good exploded view of the steering column but I think the closest I will have is for a 1967 Chevrolet in a service manual - may be similar or not since I believe the only difference would be the four way flasher in the turn signal switch which would have the knob extended through the column on the right side but may be wrong.
If you have the patience there are some GM parts books for older vehicles here but sometimes it is a challenge to find the exact thing you are searching for - http://www.gmpartswiki.com/browse

 

The closest I could find was a picture from a 1967 Canadian Pontiac Service Manual that I have. Attached is a copy of it - it may help you.

 

Thank you for going out of your way to look that up. Still no luck on my end in terms of trying to find out what part this might be. I have a manual for the car and the piece I think is worn corresponds in the manual but the part isn't labelled with what it is - go figure. I am going to post some pictures in the next few days.