Time to finish off this thread.
Never did find anyone with the correct fancy tool to compress the little spring and release the spring clip (C-Clip?). But did not need it. When you have the correct large sized snap ring pliers, it is no problem to open up the snap ring (spring clip, C-clip or whatever it is called?)
The parts shown in kevinspanns post #13 (first entry) are the correct parts to rebuild the upper shaft, but delivery is 2 weeks, so make sure you are not in a hurry. The actual bearing will not come out of the aluminum housing unless you disassemble the upper part (the tilt part) and pound it out from the back with a 13/16" deep socket (used as a punch). I left mine in place and did not change it, as it was intact. This is the part in the second entry of post #13. If you are at the wrecking yard, you will need the small torx bit (T30) to get that tilt section off, and try to find one with the key cylinder removed already.
With my steering wheel set up, the whole thing was a nightmare to disassemble as nothing gave up without a fight. The turn signal cancellation cam (the white thing in the picture) comes off by getting a steel wire in behind it (not easy) and then "strangling it" by twisting the wire together, and the cam pops off when the wire is squeezed in behind it. Nothing else gave up on mine and I had to resort to destroying the parts as nothing would slide off.
I got another wheel assembly from Rubydist, and everything on it slid off with no issues whatsoever. Can't explain why mine was so messed up.
To put everything back together, just reassemble with the snap ring being the top component and slide it down the steering shaft as far as you can. I used a short chunk of pipe and bought a M10 X 1.5 thread bolt that screws into the top end of the steering shaft. Use this bolt to push the pipe on the snap ring and move it down about 1/2" till it clicks into the trough designed for the snap ring.
I glued my yellow thing in the center of clock spring back together, put it in the clock spring and put everything back on the shaft, put on the steering wheel, and put the air bag back in place.
Before I started the disassembly, I took a marker and scribed a line on the column cover, steering wheel, clock spring (including the movable part in the center) and noting the yellow thing's position. And when it went back together, this helped a lot, as a long time had gone by.
Special thanks to Zoomlater and Kevinspann for their assistance on this topic and Rubydist for packaging up a steering column and shipping it to me.
A few more details:
The wire used to strangle the turn signal cancel cam is a bit more than 1 mm in diameter. There is no other way to get it off as the shaft has notches and diameter changes that make sliding it off difficult.
The bolt I used to put the snap ring back in the gland was 2 3/4 " long (70 mm) and had about a 1" threaded section. You have to use the bolt as when you push on the snap ring from the top, the shaft moves away from you as there is a similar spring assembly on the opposite end of the assembly that makes the shaft mobile. The MTX shaft thread was M10 - 1.5, while the ATX steering shaft thread was close (my guess M10 - 1.25) but not the same.
The pipe I used (with the bolt being 2 3/4") was 4 1/4" long, and has to have a 3/4"+ inner diameter. I used a 3/4" pipe with a thin wall, but lots of other tubes and whatnot could be used. It has to go over the steering shaft but be small enough to make contact with the snap ring to give it a push.
To get the Clock spring off the shaft, you must move the wiring ahead toward you. You don't have to uncouple the wiring, just move it off its mounting plate (pry up on the christmas tree type holders). You have to take that bottom steel plate off to see these wires. The short wire going to the ignition key switch can be left as is.
