Hey everyone,

So I just purchased and licensed my 1979 F250 4x4 yesterday. Pictures and build thread to come.

When the truck was off-loaded onto the street, the shifter for the linkage to the transmission quit working ().

I took out the shifter from the column because there was a "popping" / "spring-being-overstretched" sound coming from the column when I tried to shift it into other gears. It was stuck in drive when it came off the trailer, but I put it in park by crawling under the truck and shifting it manually.

Does anyone have an exploded view of a 1979 4x4 column from the Master Parts Catalog?

I would like to see exactly what's catching and what this popping sound is coming from. It feels like something is stripped within the column itself because the linkages are stiff at the trans, but they will move with some force.

When I took the truck for a test drive a week ago, it was extremely hard to shift it into gear, but it was possible. The column just felt VERY stiff. Now it's busted somehow

Any links/comments welcomed.

 

Hope this link works for you. It's from my truck.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1385026-steering-column-assistance.html

 

Awesome thread. Thanks for posting.

How did you pull the column fully apart? I saw the pics in your thread with the column together, then just another image of it 100% apart.

Did you follow the instructions to drive out those pins or what all happened there?

 

It's been awhile but once I had it in the vise I removed the snap ring on the shaft, threaded two screws into those pivot pins, snapped my vide grips on them and used a small hammer to tapp them out. Worked pretty good. The rest is fairly straight forward but like I say it's been awhile and my memory is good but really short. Lol.

 

So here's where I started.

The previous owner and I took the hand shift lever retaining pin when the truck was dropped off.



Truck is currently in park... but even if I throw the pin back in, I can't shift the column without making a popping sound.



Here's a pic of inside the column. You can see some deformed metal inside and the spring that's supposed to hold the shift lever in place. Doesn't look good... I can also slightly rotate this lowest plastic flange in the pic below...



I'll try taking out the 3 allen screws and the spacers from under the column to see if I can simply drop the lowest-most plastic flange (pic above).

Here's a pic of the entire assembly (for my own reference). The lowest-most flange I'm trying to take off is coded "7228" in the below pic.

 

7228 is the shift collar and if I remember right it's about as deep as you can get into the column. If it's in as bad of shape as you say you might need to take the whole column out of the truck and completely disassemble it. If I'm wrong somebody please correct me.

 

Also that collar is connected to the shift tube if I remember right. Not sure how since I never separated the two when I took mine out.
If I were you before I dropped the column I would spray a bunch of Wd-40 in the shift lever hole and hit it hard with compressed air. Could maybe blow the junk out. Also unhook the linkage outside the cab and then see how free it shifts. I know that old linkage can bind sometimes.

 

So some more progress on my tilt column for the 1979 F250 4x4... Decided to take J Ballan's advice and pull the entire column.

Undid the shift linkage near the trans, and ended up pulling the bolt/splitting the u-joint on the steering linkage. Was able to easily pull the column after the u-joint was split.

So it started like this.



Got everything split apart up to the allen bolts coming out of the bottom-most column (#7228 from previous exploded view) thanks to the shop manuals I bought for my 1978 from around 3 years ago... finally making use of them.





Once I pulled the turn signal switch off the column, I saw this hit the floor so I picked it up and realize it sat right here (see pic) on the turn signal switch. It's got a spot on the turn signal switch that's clean beneath it, so I know exactly how it sits. Hope it's not important because it's loose and I don't have a way to reattach it just yet. Could glue it down, but not sure if it would stay there. Is it important? And what is it?





So here's my disassembly-related problem... I've gotten to this point and can't seem to keep going. I've pulled the snap ring on the steering shaft and I've also pulled the 3 allen screws with their spacers and lock washers.... Nothing wants to come apart beyond this point (in the pic)... so now what do I do? The shop manual isn't very descriptive at this point. Also, judging by J-Ballans build thread (here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ssistance.html) you can see that he had separated the steering shaft from the shift tube at about this point... but I don't seem to be able to for some reason...



Flipping the column over, I found my problem. The shift tube that sits around the steering shaft is broken... quite badly I might add. The below pic is looking into the bottom-most plastic flange on the column while it's inverted. No wonder why I can't shift...



Is this shift tube replacable?

 

Yes the tube is replaceable. Junkyard will be the cheapest option. You need to take the pivot pins out now like I described then the top portion of the tilt will come off. Then the shaft then the tube can come out I believe.

 

Thanks for the super-speedy response Ballan (reps deserved for sure).

The ford manual doesn't say anything at all about the pins coming out, which is super strange...

Do you know anything about the shift tubes? I thought I read somewhere that the 4x4 columns are slightly shorter/different than the 2WD columns (so parts aren't interchangable).

I have both a 2WD straight column, AND a 2WD tilt column. If I could just replace the shift tube, I would... but I really need someone with knowledge on the subject to tell me if I can do that or not. I don't want to tear down a second column just to find out that it's too short/long and won't work for the 4x4 column.

 

Somebody else will have to chime in on what will work for you. For some reason I think all the 2WDs are different. As far as that little piece of metal goes I'm thinking I've seen it before but for the life of me can't recall where. Pretty sure it doesnt belong where it was though.

 

With adjustable steering column (only the wheel tilts), the A/T shift tube (E3TZ-7212-M replaced D8TZ-7212-E 23.48" long) is the same 1978/79 F100/350 2WD/4WD & Bronco.

 

So here's where we started again.

I popped the two pins on the side of the shift mechanism with a single 8-32 1" bolt and some washers. Was able to get a hammer under the washers and then tap on the first hammer with a second hammer. Worked really well and went smoothly.



The internals were hung up on something once the I pulled the pins and started tapping to break it loose.



These springs seem to hung up as well.



This lever (can't think of name because I don't have the ford manual in front of me) is also hung up on a pin inside the internals. Can't quite figure out how to get it off the pin because it's stuck against the bottom-most flange on the shift tube.



Here's a closer look at the lever that's stuck. You can see the grooved teeth pointing downwards.



This is where I stopped for the night. Don't have time to get it fully apart just yet, but comments are welcomed.

 

I'm thinking the tilt gear for lack of the proper term is holding you up. It's just spring loaded so take a screw driver and depress it and boom it should come apart. Also just make sure the snap ring is off the shaft too. Good luck.

 

Actually now I had a better look at it I forgot you took those three Allan head bolts from underneath. That might make it alittle more difficult because the bottom part of the tilt is trying to come with you. A little fighting with it and it should all come apart.