Anybody Know how to reassemble a steering column?

[Five2FiveTD]

I had the misfortune of having to strip out my steering column to replace the lock barrel.
The only problem is that when I removed the steering wheel to remove the lock casting you need to remove a circlip which allows you to remove the bushes and steering lock casting. on trying to replace these, the steering column shaft has slipped back onto the pipe slightly and is very difficult to pull out to reassemble.
Can any body let me know if they have done this and how they managed to pull the steering column shaft out far enough to allow the bushes and circlip to be refitted?

[Kalevera]

I had the misfortune of having to strip out my steering column to replace the lock barrel.
The only problem is that when I removed the steering wheel to remove the lock casting you need to remove a circlip which allows you to remove the bushes and steering lock casting. on trying to replace these, the steering column shaft has slipped back onto the pipe slightly and is very difficult to pull out to reassemble.
Can any body let me know if they have done this and how they managed to pull the steering column shaft out far enough to allow the bushes and circlip to be refitted?

I assume the column is still in the car.

There is a joint at knee level with a shear coupling, a rubber flex disk. You should be able to push on that and get the column shaft back to the point where the circlip can be popped back into place. It can be difficult to get that circlip back on when holding the column at the right spot, so you might want to get another set of hands.

[Ross]

I assume the column is still in the car.

There is a joint at knee level with a shear coupling, a rubber flex disk. You should be able to push on that and get the column shaft back to the point where the circlip can be popped back into place. It can be difficult to get that circlip back on when holding the column at the right spot, so you might want to get another set of hands.

While there see that the bolt clamping it to the shaft is tight and that it hasn't slipped down because of that being loose.
There was a recent thread here regarding that, the poster lost steering because of it.