Shorting Steering Column? 1968 3 speed column, shifter moved to floor...

[Loose Screw]

Ok, I have gone through the threads and searched the www and I'm still not real sure.
All the manual shifter linkage is not used, I have a Lokar shifter.
This is a Frankintruck btw.

Can I get an inch or 2 between my gut and the steering wheel easy enough by just loosening a few bolts and pushing the steering wheel in? That's really the question.

Thanks!

[Getter-Done]

Here's a couple threads.

You may have seen them already.?

Link: https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...column+forward

Link: https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=191143

[samert111]

Originally Posted by Loose Screw

Ok, I have gone through the threads and searched the www and I'm still not real sure.
All the manual shifter linkage is not used, I have a Lokar shifter.
This is a Frankintruck btw.

Can I get an inch or 2 between my gut and the steering wheel easy enough by just loosening a few bolts and pushing the steering wheel in? That's really the question.

Thanks!

Yes you can, but the steering intermediate shaft between the end of the steering column and steering gear has a slip joint that is plastic injection molded to hold it in place that will need to have the plastic removed so you can push the steering column down a couple inches thru the firewall. Just heat it with a torch and melt the plastic out then drill and pin the slip joint once you have the steering column where you want it.

Mine was an automatic converted to 4 speed manual and I also wanted a couple more inches between me and the steering wheel. I removed the neutral safety switch on the bottom of column at the firewall since I didn't need it anymore. Loosen the bracket under the dash and the clamp at the firewall engine side and slide it down to where you want it. I think 3" might be about the max you can get.

[Loose Screw]

Originally Posted by samert111

Yes you can, but the steering intermediate shaft between the end of the steering column and steering gear has a slip joint that is plastic injection molded to hold it in place that will need to have the plastic removed so you can push the steering column down a couple inches thru the firewall. Just heat it with a torch and melt the plastic out then drill and pin the slip joint once you have the steering column where you want it.

Mine was an automatic converted to 4 speed manual and I also wanted a couple more inches between me and the steering wheel. I removed the neutral safety switch on the bottom of column at the firewall since I didn't need it anymore. Loosen the bracket under the dash and the clamp at the firewall engine side and slide it down to where you want it. I think 3" might be about the max you can get.

Ok, I'm going to look into where that plastic is.
I hope that if my 1968 "3 in the tree" column has that plastic my Bernzomatic Ole Blu can get it hot enough! THANKS!

[samert111]

Originally Posted by Loose Screw

Ok, I'm going to look into where that plastic is.
I hope that if my 1968 "3 in the tree" column has that plastic my Bernzomatic Ole Blu can get it hot enough! THANKS!

That slip joint is actually there for the intermediate shaft to collapse in case of a front impact to keep the steering column from moving and pinning the driver.

You just need something to keep the slip joint from moving in or out. There is a small hole in the lower part of the intermediate shaft just below where the two halves come together. That is where they injected the plastic and on the upper half there is a void machined into it and the plastic fills that void. Once you have the plastic melted out and the shaft length where you want it after pushing the column thru, drill through that same small hole and use a soft shear pin to keep the intermediate shaft from changing length.

[58 Special]

Cut the intermediate shaft down how ever much you are moving the column toward the dash, redrill the shaft to maintain the collapsible safety feature of the column.

[Loose Screw]

Ok, so I'm working in this area here.

ColumnShaft01.jpg

I'll have my Chiltons out too (even though it's not very good).
There is a spring, some left over 3 in the tree linkage stuff and some splind shafts I'll be looking at.

Also maybe there will be some interior stuff I might have to loosen...

[Getter-Done]

Here is a couple of pictures of where the Injected plastic is.

[Loose Screw]

Ok, so it's lookin like I won't be worrying about any springs or shifter linkages.....

Thanks everybody!
I'll get into this in a while....

[pjmoreland]

My '68 had a long one-piece steering shaft without a separate intermediate shaft. This made it a real pain to remove the column from the truck. If yours is like this, then hopefully you can just remove those injected plastic pins with the column still in the truck.

One other minor issue you may want to address is that there is a rectangular cutout on the top of the column housing that engages with a little steel bump on the brake pedal mount under the dash. If you reposition your column forward, then the cutout and bump will no longer align with each other. You may want to consider cutting a new cutout farther up the column with a Dremel, or maybe drilling a large hole would suffice.

[Getter-Done]

One good thing about your column that I just noticed is that you have the Later design column.

The 67 and early 68 shaft was straight with no universal like you have on the column in your truck.

I put an arrow at the universal in picture below.

It has it's own u-joint inside.

So this makes your shortening easier.