Shifter conversion...

[68blackbird]

My 1st post. I have been lurking for week soaking in what I can...looks like I'm in the right spot...

I have a '59 Stepside that I'm restoring for a friend. I've done a '68 Firebird & '66 Fury so I have some experience mainly paint & body with limited mechanical work. My 1st of many questions, truck currently is small block, automatic with floor shifter. I replaced the manual steering box about a year ago to make it drivable, now my buddy just asked what it would take to convert to column shift, looking for any guidance here, thx, Kel

[dsraven]

don't know what the p/s system (box, rack?) looks like on your project but lots of guys are using a column from an older astro van with auto. an older chevy full size van is also pretty common swap because it doesn't have the column mounted ignition key. harder to find though. read through a few build threads for info. flaming river also sells a decent column. to use a stock column would be hard, to find an automatic truck is like hens teeth.

[_Ogre]

converting to column shift would be tricky with his stock column and steering box
linkage and brackets would be easily doable but not having any detents/nss to keep it in gear/park would make it unsafe

there are a couple electric push button options to look at, they are way pricey
but it gets the shifer off the floor onto the dash

https://www.powertraincontrolsolutio...utton_Shifter/ is $1300 and has this video youtube.com

http://www.emc-digi.com/explore.cfm/smartshift/

[mr48chev]

The simple way to do it would be to get the shift linkage off a 59 with an automatic and bolt it in place and figure out how to connect the rod from the lever at the bottom of the column to the arm on the trans and have it work right.

A bit more complicated but not terribly difficult would be to cut the stock column tube off just high enough above the steering box, pull the tube out and off the shaft and slide the column tube off a late 60's early 70's Chevy truck down over it and fit it so it is in the right position at the top for the horn and signals to work.

[mr48chev]

Not a great photo of the column as I was taking a photo of the just installed wheel but you can see that the 71 Chevy GMC automatic shift column is pretty clean. Turbo 350/400 friendly with the shift quadrant on the column. Turn signal switch parts are easy to find.

Thinking about it on a parts run a minute ago you probably would have to put a different bearing in the bottom to match the stock steering shaft plus you would want a seal in the top of the stub of the tube on the top of the box to keep water and what not out.

[68blackbird]

Thanks for the replies. Any of them seem feasible. Kinda hoping someone had done something with an after market column. I'll check into these ideas as well, thx, Kel

[_Ogre]

almost imposible to use an aftermarket column with stock steering box
i say almost because with enough time or money anything is posible

[dsraven]

Like ogre said, almost impossible. The stock steering box input shaft is one piece all the way to the steering wheel. You would need to cut it off and attach, securely and safely, some sort of universal joint to attach another shaft from a new column. I have seen guys cut off and weld something shorter back onto the end of the input shaft to get around that issue. Is that really a safe way? Maybe if done correctly by qualified person. You may be able to find some sort of u joint to fit a shaft with a flat spot for alignment and scurement. Possibly a machine shop could spline or keyway the shaft as well to accept some zort of joint. The box would likely need to come apart for that, good time to check/rebuild. With cut and weld There is liability attached if anything were to go wrong. Especially in these times where everything seems to go to court and attach blame to somebody. That is lilely why the shifter is on the floor now. Ogres idea of push button sounds good.
Before you spend time and money check your existing box for wear atc. It would suck to do a bunch of work only to find out the box is shot.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by dsraven

Before you spend time and money check your existing box for wear atc. It would suck to do a bunch of work only to find out the box is shot.

Real good point there.

I've been hunting for a photo of a stock 59 automatic shift linkage to show but so far they are few and far between as far as decent photos go.

[OrrieG]

I used an 82 eldo column to get the ingnition lock, turn signal, tilt/telescope, column light dimmer and shift. I converted to a 48 steering wheel for old look. A lot of guys do not like the bulkiness of the new columns. I made up the cable linkage from racing shifter parts. I paid $75 for the column, $25 for the steering wheel and had about $100 in paint and the linkage. Here is a pic, details in my build thread towards the front. Note that the trans linkage is installed wrong in this photo, the bracket mounts on the two trans side bosses and the arm piece is 180 degrees facing up.

[dsraven]

looks like orrieg is using a box from something mid 80's? seen that done before. some like it some don't because of tire interference on lowered trucks. personal preference. probably not a big issue if youy keep the stock height?
nice job orrieg

[mr48chev]

I'm saving those cable photos for reference. That saves endless hours of fitting and adjusting linkage rods on rigs where you don't have and easy shot between the shift arm on the column and the arm on the trans.

I'll have to go out and measure and take a better photo but a guy might be able to trim the stock column tube at the proper length to get a 70/72 column tube to slip down and butt up against the remains of the stock tube or slip over it at just the right height.

[47 Fasttoys]

OK, I'll put in my 2 cents here. If you buy one of the electronic shifter kits they are very pricey, in the $1000 range last time I checked. In my case I built an electric shifter using a 12 volt linear actuator, a DPDT toggle switch and 3 indicator lights. Total cost was under $100. I have been running this shifter for over 50K miles now and have the bugs worked out. I run a 4l60E trans so it has a shift position switch which mounts to the shaft on the trans from the factory. I use this output to power indicator lights on the dash. I did have to make a mount for the actuator and extend/modify the the shift arm. This may not be the solution for everyone but being mid-engine it works great for me. Red light for park, blue for reverse, green for OD. One of the toggle switches is the shifter. Now you see it, now you don't. The actuator has 225# of pull so it's not gonna jump out of gear.
Rob

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by dsraven

looks like orrieg is using a box from something mid 80's? seen that done before. some like it some don't because of tire interference on lowered trucks. personal preference. probably not a big issue if youy keep the stock height?
nice job orrieg

74 K20 box, mounted in original geometry as 74 truck. Using info from another guy her I rotated the arm on the box to get more clearance, but not full lock, about 1/4 turn shy. If it gets to be a problem I am going to find a box to work in the stock location, patent the idea and make a million dollars....

[OrrieG]

47, cool idea. You could get a paddle steering wheel and pretend you are driving a F1.

[dsraven]

way back in the day I worked on several '70's era fords. I have wondered if a box from one of those could be made to work. some have used the toyota p/u steering box from '80's era on the 47-55.1 trucks. i also wondered about that. you could be rich, filthy stinkin rich.

[47 Fasttoys]

OrrieG, you may be on to something here "You could get a paddle steering wheel and pretend you are driving a F1." Paddle shifter, satin jacket, some hotties with big hair on my arms... and maybe some gold chains to top it off. Yeah, I need to look into these things.
Now back to the topic of discussion.
Rob

[_Ogre]

some hotties with big hair on my arms...

your killing me fasttoys

[franken]

I'd snag a column from a car/truck along w/ the linkage from a vehicle w/ a similar setup. TH350/700R4 and TH400/4L? are similar platforms to each other.

[63dave]

I put a 30" column shift into my 59 similar to an Ididit tilt column. I cut the original column off a few inches above the steering box and ground some flats on the shaft to take a double "D" coupler. I actually followed the instructions for Ididit 59 Chev truck shown in this link.
http://www.ididitinc.com/pdf/55-59Ch...stallInstr.pdf

[tmoble]

47fasttoys,

in the shot of the dash, what are the 4 gizmos above the row of LEDS?

[47 Fasttoys]

Air ride manual control valves, also has an engine driven compressor. Gauges to the right are left side, tank pressure and right side.
Rob