1968 Chevrolet SWB Stepside Restomod

[Vic1947]

Brian, try this tilt column link. It has exploded views and instructions.

[Low Elco]

Taking steps! Sounds like good progress. Keep after it.

[Xeen]

I have some Bad news.
Apparently the truck that the Vortec came out of was hit so hard that it damaged the engine and they werent willing to warranty it, so I got my money back and now I'm looking for a engine and transmission again.

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Xeen

I have some Bad news.
Apparently the truck that the Vortec came out of was hit so hard that it damaged the engine and they werent willing to warranty it, so I got my money back and now I'm looking for a engine and transmission again.

keep looking you will find it yet.

[Xeen]

I stopped by Bobs Vintage Truck and picked up a few things.
A pair of chrome wing windows.
A pair of 15x8 Rally's.
I need to find someone who won't charge me $25 per wheel to sandblast them, when the time involved is 5 minuites per wheel, talk about a rip off, I would love it if I could make $300 per hour wouldn't you?

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Xeen

I stopped by Bobs Vintage Truck and picked up a few things.
A pair of chrome wing windows.
A pair of 15x8 Rally's.
I need to find someone who won't charge me $25 per wheel to sandblast them, when the time involved is 5 minuites per wheel, talk about a rip off, I would love it if I could make $300 per hour wouldn't you?

A small 30 pound sand blaster is only 90.00 at harbor frieght. But you need a 12 to 15 CFM air compresser to make it work. I bought one and I have saved a ton of money doing it my self. But it does make a mess.

[Xeen]

Steering column rebuild on hold for the moment while I wait for parts to arrive.
1) Shift Bowl special service tools.
2) Upper Inner bearing Retainer.
I now have the tools and know where to get the parts to repair 1971-72 GM truck tilt columns.
It took me roughly 20 hours worth of research to track all this down, it felt like I was researching for a big College paper, I might write a complete walk through for this to put in the FAQ section.
You got questions about the 1971-72 GM Truck tilt column? I got answers!

[Xeen]

I installed my Liscense Plate Panel, and Liscense Plate Lamp today just for something to do.
I couldnt help myself I used Stainless Steel Carriage bolts, no crummies on this truck!
I also modified the Lamp housing to accept 1/4" grade 5 bolts, and used nyloc nuts to lock it down.
Overkill? No such thing!

[Xeen]

For all of you guys who have a GM tilt column partially torn apart with broken parts that dont seem to be available atleast for some of you I have good news.
Long story made short, I broke the upper Inner bearing retainer while cleaning it because it was 42 years old and brittle, now most of the time they are broken when you remove them from the get go which causes slop, well today there is an answer for this broken part you just have to know what to look for.
Saginaw who makes the 1971-72 tilt for the c10 pickup used that bearing retainer for the tilt mechanism clear up untill 1999 but they used it for the Upper Outter bearing, same part different application, but obviously the good news here is they made millions upon millions of them over the last 42 years and you can still get them.
Also if you lose any of the balls don't freak out, your local ace hardware store and probably others carry ball bearings of all sizes so they can be replaced, just take your caliper with you and measure to find the replacement at the store win/win.

Here is a picture of the bearing retainer.

[67cheby]

thanks for sharing !

[Vic1947]

Excellent research, will likely save someone down the line!

[Bomp]

Thanks for the great news.
I know of guys that have bought whole columns for that there part.

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Thanks for the great news.
I know of guys that have bought whole columns for that there part.

I know that thia will come in handy when i start to rebuild a tilt colum keep me in mind. If anyone knows where a good tilt for a 68 semd me a PM

[Low Elco]

Good research! You oughta write up a small thread with pics on just that in the appropriate fourm and have it added to the FAQ list.

[Xeen]

I had to make several repairs to the tilt column.

Here is a picture of the tilt housing with the bearings repaired lubed and installed.




The leading edge of the turn signal lever access cutout on the housing cover was caved in so I repaired it using various metal working dollys, a #3 flat blade screwdriver and a metal working hammer.

[Xeen]

I spent the day in KC at Vics house rebuilding my GM truck tilt steering column.
Vic went all professional restoration on it and it looks like it just rolled off of the assembly line.
He has lots of pics of the process so I will let him post them up.

[Low Elco]

Glad it came out good! Tried to get up there, got hung up. Hope y'all had a good day.
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[Vic1947]

Ran into a few snags during the column build, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. First order of business was to finish disassembly of the column. Brian had a tool that for that purpose, but the tang on the end of it had snapped off during the first attempt. We cleaned up the leftover carnage and then welded a new tang on the tool. We were then able to finish removing the liner tube. Next we bead blasted the old chipped paint off and sprayed gray primer on the bare metal.

At that point everything was ready for reassembly.

[Vic1947]

First order of business was to draw the liner tube back into place using the installer tool. With this done, the threaded retainer for mounting the tilt pivot assembly was inserted. To do this, you have to first rotate the cast aluminum housing all the way clockwise and insert the ear on the ring as far left as possible. Then rotate the housing counter clockwise while working the retaining ring into the slots. A bit tricky, but with a little patience, it will drop right into place. Just don't forget the wavy tensioning washer behind it! Speaking of forgetting a step, before you draw the inner liner tube into the cast housing is a good time to route the wiring. We didn't, so later on we had to use a pin removal tool to separate the wiring from the plug in order for it to fit thru the housing. Duh!

[Vic1947]

Next, the bottom shaft bearing was installed and the tilt pivot assembly was installed. There are four bolts that require a torque of 35 in/lbs. Since there were no locking washers, we used a drop of blue loctite on each of them to insure they stay put. Probably overkill, but better safe than sorry. If you forget to install the rubber pieces on the outer column tube like we did, not to worry. A little bit of dishwashing soap will allow them to slide over the shift arm and onto the tube. Next step was to install the other half of the tilt pivot assembly and insert the pins.

[Vic1947]

Once the pivot pins are in place, the long tensioning spring and its retaining cap can be installed by pushing the spring in with considerable force and rotating the cap CCW. The fine thread nut was installed on the shaft and drawn up carefully until just the right amount of drag was present when turning the shaft and there was no play. With clean, re-packed bearings it felt smooth as silk.

All that's left to do at this point is to fit the signal canceling / hazard flasher assembly into the housing cover and bolt it into place. It's worth noting that the routing for the wiring is important and needs to go under the L shaped hook on the signal assembly so that it exits the housing in the correct location. We had to remove and reassemble the signal assembly several times to get the wires situated to where they didn't bind up. We also discovered that the signal assembly was made such that one of the mounting pads was too thick and caused the assembly to fit at an angle. We filed it down to match the length of the shoulder on the retaining bolt.

And one other caution... The retaining bolts are 12-24 and are three sided instead of round. As such, they act like a tap when going in and out of the hole threaded into the soft cast aluminum. Because the shoulder was unable to come in contact with the housing due to the aforementioned problem with the mounting pad, the threads on that hole stripped. Brian is currently tracking down a help-coil kit to repair the damage. Otherwise it would be a done deal right now.

Lastly, the recessed slot on the signal assembly where the turn signal lever mounts was too narrow. So we had to carefully sand a little off each side of the lever to get it to seat correctly. Those are some of the things we found during reassembly, so hopefully anyone that sees this will be forewarned.

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Ran into a few snags during the column build, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. First order of business was to finish disassembly of the column. Brian had a tool that for that purpose, but the tang on the end of it had snapped off during the first attempt. We cleaned up the leftover carnage and then welded a new tang on the tool. We were then able to finish removing the liner tube. Next we bead blasted the old chipped paint off and sprayed gray primer on the bare metal.

At that point everything was ready for reassembly.

Is your shop always so nice and clean. Mine seems to be always in a mess.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by gdavis

Is your shop always so nice and clean. Mine seems to be always in a mess.

LOL thats Vics shop and yeah his shop is spotless.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by gdavis

Is your shop always so nice and clean. Mine seems to be always in a mess.

Be thankful ...stopping every few minutes to clean up borders on mental illness.

[Xeen]

My new Boyd Welding Aluminum Stealth EFI fuel tank was delivered today.
I decided to have them send it with an optional EFI cover plate just incase I decide not to go with a EFI engine.