Steeribg Column Lower Bearing

[4tiresngas]

The threads on my steering column are jacked. I believed the PO used the old BFH as a steering wheel puller. I got another column, but the lower bearing is shot.

Question...If I get a column out of a 3-speed, can I change the housing and shift tube to make it an automatic?

If not, how hard is it to get the bearing off the column with the jacked up threads and put it on the column with the jacked up bearing?

[guyryan100]

I took the shaft out of my 3 speed column and put it in an auto column from eBay. The shaft that came in the auto column was only 3 feet long while the shaft from my 3spd column (that I'm still using) was around 5 ft. long and goes all the way from the steering wheel to the gear box.

Other than the length, they appear to be interchangable. If you can use this 3' shaft out of the auto column, let me know.

[JimKshortstep4x4]

If the column shift has the intermediate shaft on it it will work with the automatic column assuming it has the intermediate shaft. The older trucks, (67-68 I believe) had a much longer solid shaft with no intermediate shafts on them.

Changing the upper or lower bearings should not be very difficult. Changing the shaft over is easy also.

Jim

[4tiresngas]

Thanks Jim, I think I'll just go pull another shaft. I took pictures of the trucks the salvage yard had...There were two trucks with 4-speed floor shift. Both of those colums have the intermediate shaft with the coupling according to my pictures. I wish I had looked at the bearing before I left the salvage yard. It's 40 miles away, and my HEMI only gets 13 mpg. And the yard isn't open on the weekends.

[4tiresngas]

I went to the Auto Craft Shop on post today and used the hydraulic press to press the lower bearing off the shaft with jacked up threads. I then pressed it on to the good shaft. After I cleaned up the shaft, I noticed the shaft had markings on it, so it was pretty easy to know how far to press it on.