'54 F100Steering Column continued:
I was able to get in a few hours this week on the old truck mixed in on adding Prius steering to a 1967 Mustang Fastback. The owner of it is 73 and doesn't have as much upper body strength as he did when he was 19 just home from Vietnam when he purchased it new. The vehicle has somewhere between 600.000 and 700,000 miles on it. Also we got in some time on the Mustang II project. Back to the truck.
Here is a picture of the '54 column housing tube laying beside the Mustang/Prius set-up.
'54 column before shortening. I've settled in on the column tube being cut to 34" to go with the steering shaft cut to 36" with one inch of shaft sticking out of the top and one inch sticking out of the bottom
The steering shaft is at the Machinist having a 'DD' cut on the bottom of the shaft
1967 Mustang turn signal switch being fitted to the truck column
Measuring to get the column at the stock height. This is easy if you have an original steering box in place. I did not. I had to get a measurement from a 1953-55 F100 owner. Sometimes a ruler or a yard stick is better than a measuring tape that won't stay locked
Column in chop saw. Yes is the answer to all of you 'Woodworking people' that is a recommissioned 'Compound Miter' saw
There are a pair of column bracket bolts that hold up the column. Fortunately, I had mine. Copies can be made out of short carriage bolts.
A few of you aren't old enough to know why they are called carriage bolts...
Column shift rod has a hole in it to hold the shift lever in a certain spot. The shift rod is getting shortened too so the pin hole has to be relocated. There is a slug tack welded in the hollow tube to have something solid for the pin to ride in.
Slug will be reinstalled after new hole is drilled. The factory had spot welded the tube in 4 places. Coincidentally my cut was right through them and the slug was easy to remove.
ADDED: Early next week I will be picking up the 36" steering shaft from the Machinist. It is a recycled '65 Mustang shaft cut off of a wore out steering gear box. 'DD' on the bottom end will fit an aftermarket DD u-joint. It will be attached to a shaft going down to the Ranger that has DD on one end and Ford 'V' (shaped like an ice cream cone) at the R&P. There may be a little different configuration in the end.
RockAuto picture of rack connection.
credits to Speedway Motors and RockAuto for pictures...