Re: 72 column in a 65
First of all I want to say I'm the Cheapest, Laziest S.O.B you will ever meet in your life. This is what I did. I did what GM did for mounting the truck columns in 1967. They used a centering pin to keep the column centered and used a simple U 2 bolt U strap to hold the column to the dash. If I remember correctly I got a 3/8" x 1" bolt & a 3/8" jamb nut, drilled a 3/8" hole in the bottom of the dash and another one in the center of my column. I kept the 64 factory rubber piece in place and got a piece of I think 1/2" thick rubber (scrap from work) punched a 5/8" hole in the middle to clear the jamb nut and used the factory unmodified E brake column mount bracket to wedge the column in place.
For the wiring I clipped the female connector off a 70's donor car & bought the correct male terminal ends to match from eBay BUT if I remember correctly either Flaming River or Ron Francis did sell a short adapter that would adapt your 65 wiring plug to a 72 column if you don't want to take the time or have the time to wait. At 62 years old it's NOT fun to be on my back working under a dash.
If your truck is an automatic you MUST move the Neutral Safety Switch further down the column (towards the firewall) there is noway around this But believe it or not that was pretty easy.
As an added bonus I also added 4 way emergency flashers since the column already had the switch & the wiring.
If you need a better explanation and/or better pictures just let me know.
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