Hey everyone. I have a 1972 F250 Crew Cab short bed with the FE 390 V8 & C6 Auto Trany. My son got in a wreck and messed up the steering wheel/turn signals and I was wondering what later model steering column would fit in there well with a tilt wheel option?

 

No mention if you have power steering so, I take it you have manual steering.

The first tilt columns for the trucks (without the ignition key on the column) were in the Dentside trucks ('78/'79).

I put a tilt column in my '69 F100 that came from a '78 F150. I had a manual steering gear box but swapped to a '78 F150 Saginaw power steering gear box.

The '78/'79 tilt column will be shorter in length than a manual steering column or, a power steering column behind a Ford/Bendix PS gear box.

I don't know of any steering coupling/rag joints that are available new for this style tilt column. The manual steering column 'rag joint' is not the same. I ended up installing a Borgeson joint (3/4"-36 spline x 3/4"-36 spline).

 

D8TZ-3A525-A .. Steering Coupler (Rag Joint) / Use with 2WD & P/S = 1978/79 F100/350.

D8TZ-3A525-D .. Steering Coupler (Rag Joint) / Use with 2WD & M/S = 1978/79 F100/350.

All the tilt wheel related parts are located towards the top of the column. The bottom of the column is the same with/without tilt.

 

If the tilt column comes without the coupling assembly, or at least without the splined/bolted piece on the column side of the steering column (as mine didn't have one), the new parts store replacement coupling will not work.

The new coupling is only splined/bolted on one side --not BOTH.


How to Install a Tilt Steering Column - FORDification.com

How to Shorten Your Manual-Steering Column - FORDification.com

How to Install Power Steering in a 2WD F100/250/350 - FORDification.com

 

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Something else that was not mentioned when I was researching information on this swap, prior to actually making the swap, is the firewall seal, inside the cab.

If you install the '78/'79 tilt column and the Saginaw PS gear box, you CANNOT reuse the firewall-to-column seal from the Bumpside fixed column. There will be a 1/2"-3/4" gap all the way across the bottom of the seal, where you can see into the engine bay from inside the truck.

You will have to have the Denside tilt column-to-firewall seal. Fixed, Bumpside manual steering column seal on left, tilt Dentside column seal on right.



You will also need the shorter stamped steel column support bracket that mounts on the engine side of the firewall.



The final obstacle will be the NSS (Neutral Safety Switch). Prior to '78, it was mounted on top of the steering column, inside the cab. From '78-up, the NSS was mounted on the side of the transmission. There's no provision on the tilt column to mount the NSS.

You will either have to install a transmission gear selector arm that's compatible with a NSS or, you'll have to jumper the start circuit out (potentially risky).

 

Hey Steve, your new door panels are way upscale. Nice touch amigo. Were they big $$$?


Baja

 

https://www.npdlink.com/store/produc...263-50039.html

 

3A528 (in the diagram) is the primary difference between a Bumpside fixed, manual steering column and a Dentside tilt steering column.

The Bumpside manual steering column has a stamped steel flange that's PRESSED onto the tip of the manual steering column shaft. The Dentside tilt coulmn is splined on the tip. That side of the coupling (rag joint) just slides onto the tip of the tilt column steering shaft and is retained by the compression of a bolt running through the clamp.

Without part 3A528 of the coupling assembly on the donor tilt column, a new, replacement rag joint will not hook up properly. The replacement coupling does not come with the splined/bolted (3A528) portion of the joint assembly.

--I found this out through first hand experience, after wasting $50 bucks on a new coupling. It's why I had to go with the Borgeson joint instead and, it's why I said there's an overall difference in coupling assemblies in going from a Bumpside fixed, manual column to a Dentside tilt column.

 

Sorry, I do have power steering from the factory

 

Thanks for all the wonderful advice