I have a 54 F100 with stock 3 on tree. Have all parts for an IDIDIT tilt conversion and also have a 3 speed floor shifter to put in as well.

Question??? With the original bench seat, will I have the clearance needed for the shifter travel or will I have to alter the center section of the bench seat or change the seat out. Iwould like to keep the bench, kids enjoy riding with me and it has already been recovered.

thanks, Ed

 

You can probably tell if the shifter will fit by crawling under to see where it lines up with the transmission floor cover plate. Or, you could remove the floor cover and see. If you do the column and shifter switch, I would do the shifter first and just disconnect the stock linkage. That way you will have less down time/off the road time if you break it up into a couple of weekends. Also, connecting the ididit column to a stock steering gear will be difficult. On my 56, the shaft that is part of the gear itself, went all the way from the gear to the steering wheel. I had to disconnect the gear from the frame and remove the pitman linkage arm from the gear to remove the old column. Ididit columns are usually incorporated at the time power steering is added. Are you planning power steering?

 

I'm gonna use the stock manual steering for now, knowing that I have to remove the steering box and have the shaft shortened and ground to a double-D to fit to the borgeson u-joint.
In the futrue I think I will switch to a Toyota power steering box or find a complete power steering kit to include pump and brackets....should be able to reconnect the IDIDIT to the new setup later without much problems...using a 32 inch column now should allow room for spacing between column and newer box.
Maybe I'll find some new toys for my truck up in Knoxsville in May!!!!

thanks for the advice, Ed