Here is a thread on another site that I ran across trying to figure out if I could do exactly this. I am currently trying to get in contact with him to see if I can get a bit more detail on how he did it but nice to know it is possible.
Rodding Roundtable :: View topic - Column shift on a F100 power steering conversion

 

This is a good find. I hope you hear from the guy. I will be watching.

 

I can't see very clearly what he did exactly, but I think he's saying he used a U-joint to accomodate the offset of the two shafts. That's an awfully short distance to accomodate that much offset (it appears anyway).

 

Ross
I don't see a universal?? It looks to me like one of the straight rigid couplings that mid fifty's sells. They have splines for the box shaft on one end and matching bore for the column shaft on the other? The challenges I see are caused by the new shorter distance from the box to the firewall.
1. The shifting arms look to have been moved higher on the column. Does the shifter still work OK? Were the rods to the tranny adaptable or new ones made? Did he have shorten the column shifter tube to do this?
2. Did the rigid coupling allow the original column angle to remain or is it different?
3. More details on how he adapted / supported the shaft in the column tube at the bottom end.
Hope we can find this guy.
Bob

 

I have also been in contact with nolimit engineering to see what they say about using there setup on my 58 with the column shifter and this is the response I got.

We do not know about the clearance on the 58, on the 56 a column shift
has 2 arms and takes up about 4" room, the arms need to be bent a little
straighten and the spacers between shortened to make it take up less
room as the distance from the firewall to the box is tight.

The coupler is weld on the steering column shaft side (for a stock
column) and splined on the Toyota box side.

The 58 requires you modify your pitman arm by welding the Toyota top to
the ford bottom or we can get an arm for you from our machinist at about
100.00, will check on that for you if you decide you need it.

 

So this is what our new best friend Frank has to say-
I reviewed the post, man it has been a while. As I recall there is no modification to the shifter itself. What I did was use a coupler from Flaming River that was splined for the Toyota box, and I believe 3/4" DD on the other end. I flattened two sides of the Ford steering shaft, installed the coupler on the shaft, and welded it in place. I then turned down the top of the coupler so it was concentric with the shaft, and made a Delrin bushing that would fit over the coupler, and inside the column tube. So, once it's installed, the coupler is actually inside the column tube, with the shifter fitting over it on the outside. If you look at the picture, the coupler and bushing are not visible. I believe I used a rubber bushed lower column mount so it did not bind on the shaft. This gives enough room to use the factory shifter. If you need any more questions answered, feel free to ask, I may have forgotten something.

So if there is something that anybody has been wondering I will be more than willing to ask as I am going to write him back asking a bit more about if he had to bend the linkage arms at all. I am a bit unclear about the rubber bushed lower column mount so I will ask about that unless somebody here can figure out how that works?

Cbass

 

Good information. The lathe work explains it. A while ago I tried to find some a bearing with the correct ID and OD for the shaft and column. No luck. I'll stay tuned.

 

This upgrade/retrofit I've been looking at since I got my truck. While looking around I've seen in the Classic Performance Products paper catalog they list:
"U-Joint for Toyota Power Steering"
F100CA- OEM column shift (man. trans), 11/16" x36 to 3/4" $29.00
They also have what they call a "Column Saver Conversion Kit" which sounds like a similar type of fix that was explained to you. I'm not near this stage of my build and didn't want to call them with a bunch of questions until I was ready to buy if they said it was possible, but you might want to give them a call? They also carry the mounting bracket, Pitman Arm, hoses, and fittings.
I sure hope we find a way to do this, because other than disc brakes in the front this is the only other modification on my wish list!

 

That is very cool!!!!!! And he has mounted a power steering pump on a, I6 223. I would love to see pics of those custom brackets/mounts.

 

Hey Rat, I am going to email him today or tomorrow. Want me to see if he has any pics of the brackets?

 

Absolutely!!!!!! Better pics of everything would would be great.

 

I joined to see if I could help you guys with this. Sorry, no more pictures, that was 6 years ago, and I have no idea where the truck is now. The owner I did it for passed away, and it was sold a couple years ago, but it was trouble free up to the time he died.

Here is what I emailed Cbass.



The rubber bushed lower column mount is at floor level, on the outside of the column, to stabilize it at the floor, since the column is no longer attached to the steering box. I used a small plate, with a hole a bit larger than the column, a piece of tubing 1/2" larger than the column about a inch long welded to the plate about 1/2 the way around, and split down the bottom side . Then you can put a soft rubber sleeve between the tubing, and the column, and hold it in place with a hose clamp. This is then bolted to the floor with metal screws to hold it in place, inside the cab, under the floor mat.

I have no more pictures than the ones I posted. I believe what I did was move the generator up, and use the original generator mounting bolts in the block to mount the pump, and a plate bracket that now mounts the generator. I think I used a couple water pump bolts to stabilize the generator. For the crank pulley, I used a 2.3 Pinto crank pulley, machined down for belt spacing, and made a slug that fit into the original crank pulley with a keyway cut in it to match the one in the crank. I used a long key that fit into both the slug, and the crank. The slug holds the pulley aligned, the key keeps it from turning, and the bolt in the end of the crank holds it all in place in front of the original crank pulley. The slug fits about 1/4" into the original crank pulley. The power steering pump itself was from an Escort.

I just looked at a stock shift setup on line, and it looks like I shortened the shift tube to move the mechanism closer to the firewall to gain some more room. Outside of readjusting it I do not recall any modification to the levers or linkage. As I said, this was 6 years ago, and I have done several more conversions since then with various power plants.

 

enjenjo welcome and thanks for answering the call.
Do you recall if the column angle matched the original so the stock drop bracket still worked? I mounted the toy box with a bracket purchased from mid-fifties.
The picture looks like the shifting arms are closer to the fire wall. Did you just push the whole column and steering wheel up further in the cab or did you shorten the shifting tube that follows the column?

 

Hey Frank, Thanks for the email and even more so thanks for joining up and posting the answer. I know that there are a few of us trying this and as much info that is out there we could use the help. I am now stuck on mounting a pump (I have a 292 with crossover exhaust), what pump to use and where to run the pulley. The fun never ends right? Thats why we love our trucks.
Cbass

 

I shortened the tube on the shifter, the wheel is in the same place it was stock. The angle is close enough to original that the stock column drop worked without modification. Inside the cab it all looks stock.

To shorten the tube, I scribe a line down the tube, cut out the desired amount, align the scribe marks, and weld back together.