Tilt steering question 72 Blazer

[richard22]

I was in the process of swapping my non tilt steering colum out with a used tilt steering colum and ran into a problem, My truck is a 1972 blazer 4x4 with ps and auto, the used colum was fro a 1972 chevy truck, My colum has a 2 piece shaft that comes off of the steering colum and goes to the steering box the other has about 6 inches of shaft and is supposed to bolt to the steering box, Therefore Im about 18 inches short with the new one, Has anyone installed a factory tilt steering colum into a blazer. I looked in the lmc catalogue and mine mathces exactly with the diagram they show of a factory unit. The used unit I am using was factory only diff was not ps. Thanks In advance with any help.

[krue]

Pics would help. I know the tilt column I took off a 72 blazer like yours was exactly the same as the tilt in the 72 truck I bought for parts. So it should be what you need.

[richard22]

I will try to post some pics, but to clrify it seems the tilt steering colum has about 6 inches of shaft protroding from the colum housing in the engine compartment where as mine only has about 2 inches then connects to a collapsible shaft that goes to gear box the tilt unit has the coupler at the end of the 6 inch shaft to connect to the gearbox, Anyway I will post pics of both as soon as I can. Thanks

[red71cheyenne]

So the collapsible shaft won't reach the new column shaft? Usually its the other way around, you have to drill out the plastic rivet in the collapsible to make it short enough to go in between the column and the rag joint. Pics would really help. The tilt column will only usually have about 3 inches of shaft sticking out at the end and the collapsible shaft makes up the difference in distance.

[watahyahknow]

maybe it colapsed completely , , you might be able to make an intermediate shaft with the bottompart of the old steeringcolum

[richard22]

Here are the pics of the tilt column and the non tilt column, Its kind of hard to tell but notice the ends of both columns,

[richard22]

I see what you mean about collapsing the shaft, It might fit that way what is confusing is the tilt column had the rag joint on the end, I removed it but where it was it would never reach the gear box, Also ther are some bolts on my original colum that hold some kind of plate and some arms for the shifter, This is not on the other column nor is there any holes for the bolts, It is supposed to be off of a 72 p/u. I just dont see why it would be so diff.

[1969k10stepside]

That looks like a van tilt column..they are longer than a truck column..The fix: Drill the plastic rivets from the shaft,collapse it and bolt it in but unless someone else has messed with it,the grommets,neutral saftey,and wiring will have to be modified.I know what that little shaft is you are talking about,on the vans it goes from the column down a few inches to the rag joint on the steering box.Definitely a van column...You will need to collapse the one from the truck to work.The splines are the same and the column will go in the shaft from the truck.

[richard22]

Thnk You for the replies. You are right. It was supposed to be out of a truck but I just looked at some other van columns on ebay and that is what it is, I just emailed the seller who told me he pulled it himself out of a truck so either he shipped the wrong one or he was mistaken, Anyway Im going to try to find the correct one and send this one back, Again thanks to everyone who replied, this is a great site and I look forward to contributing in the future.