Anyone done this? shorten tilt?

[GreyHoundSteve]

I was trying to mount my seats this weekend and i noticed that my truck tilt is about 4 inches from my chest. I thought the tilt looked like it stuck out too far when i mounted it but now im sure its way too long. Its a tilt out of a 72 truck. Heres what i was thinking to fix it;

I was thinking that i could slide it down so that the nuetral safety switch was just below the mounting bracket on the inside of the firewall in the engine bay. I measured it and it looks like there is enough room to position it this way. I also noticed that the bar that connects the column to the ps is adjustable so it shouldnt be too hard to shorten.

Can anyone think of any reason why this wouldnt work? Im having a custom gauge bezel built so that wont be an issue.

[Huck]

the steering shaft connecting link---or bar---is collapseable. Look close and you will find 2 small round spots that are actually holes in the outer section where nylon perturdes a bit. You drill them out then carefully compress the bar. Don't go wacking hard on the end with a hammer or you might loosen the round flange fitting--could loose steering if that happens. You can reposition the neutral safety switch my doing some cutting with a dremmel and a spot weld. Done all the time to Van tilts. Huck

[StingRay]

If you have a floor shift it should work but if it's a column shift you'll have a bit of linkage work to figure out too.

[purple gas]

The way I shortend my collapsable shaft was to take it out of the truck. Hold the top part of the double D shaft, and whack the bottom part straight down on the cement floor a couple times. It breaks off the nylon pins and is way easier than drilling, and likely safer than hitting with a hammer. There's a real good post somewhere with good pic's of how to re-locate the neutral safety switch. I too was amazed at how much a few inches is when I was putting my truck together before shortening the shaft for the van tilt.

[GreyHoundSteve]

I already got the collapsable shaft apart. It only took me a minute to drill it out and then whacked it once with a hammer and it came apart easily.

I hadnt thought about the linkage though.

[Bob Moore]

GHSteve - An idea for the shift linkage to gain additional room would be to mount the linkage behind the col rather than in front like stock. I am talking the spud in the arm coming out on the shift tube. By simply reversing the spud you could gain a minimum of an inch - probably more if you pushed it.

Just an idea. It may or may not work.

Good luck - Bob

[Jeff M.]

I relocated the neutral safety switch in mine. Used a dremmel tool to cut the outter column and welded a tang to the inner column for the switch. Slid the column all the way down until the shift collar was next to the dash, marked where I wanted the safety switch and mounted it. Didn't have any problems with the auto shift linkage.

[tnblazerk5]

Originally Posted by Jeff M.

I relocated the neutral safety switch in mine. Used a dremmel tool to cut the outter column and welded a tang to the inner column for the switch. Slid the column all the way down until the shift collar was next to the dash, marked where I wanted the safety switch and mounted it. Didn't have any problems with the auto shift linkage.

you got any pics of that ?

[GreyHoundSteve]

Originally Posted by tnblazerk5

you got any pics of that ?

yeah pics would be cool.
Thanks

[smokekiki]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=dremel+column This is one way. In the last pic were he cuts the inner colum,weld a small tab on,then You can use the stock 67-72 saftey switch

[tnblazerk5]

i was wanting to see pics of the shift collar next to the dash to see how it is going to look in there