Steering wheel fell, tried to fix, now stuck

[nimi]

Hi all, first time poster, did a little search and couldn't find anything similar..

so my Yaris 2007 steering whee fell off it's hinges while i was driving (it remained connected to the rod and everything, no biggie) since it fell of the two hinges holding it and the whole mechanism which allows moving it forward and backwars with that little lever under the steering wheel.

I opened the baby up to fix it, and while i did, i pulled the wheel as close up to me as i could, which resulted in it pushing all the way out from it's modular rod. this surprised me, and naturally i tried pushing it back in (otherwise it can't reach the hinges) - but it won't move!

just to clarify - i'm not talking the lever mechanism, i'm talking the entire modular pole holding the steering wheel is extended *all the way out* and won't push back =\

Anyone encountered this before? any ideas on how to pop it back in? sheer force / hammering won't work.