Hey folks,
Haven't been on in a while just thought I stop in and give a quick update and then ask a question.

I have been really busy but I have mostly sanded then primed then painted black alot of small parts jsut to get them out of the way. And then this sunday I am having my buddy come up and see if i have to rebuild my 302 or what. So not alot done but it is getting there.

Ok now my problem, I DON'T FIT IN MY TRUCK!!! I bought some bucket racing seats from Summit i but them in my truck and then found out that my legs hit the steering wheel and i was wondering if i could run the coloum through the floor to get more room in the cab? I am about 6' even and i am going to grow to about 6'3" the truck has power steering so I don't know what I can do.

any help will be great

thanks,
alec

 

Racing seats usually have very low mounts on them and little to no bottom cushion, so I can't picture why your knees would hit the steering wheel unless you put something under them when installing them? What PS does the truck have and what column are you using? Changing steering geometry by moving components around is a recipe for disaster since it could make the truck unsafe to drive. Some ways to increase leg room might be to use a shorter column drop at the dashboard and/or a smaller diameter steering wheel, but I'd first start with the seats, how about some pix of the installation and possibly with you sitting in the cab.

 

I am pretty sure that the PS and the Coloum are from a '94 Ranger because that is what the frame is from. The seats are mounted about 4.5" off the floor and that makes the seat hight about 7" off the floor. I also have a grant steering wheel which I think is about a 12" dia. Do u think i souyld spend the money on an Ididit coloum?


Thanks,
Alec

 

How does that height compare to the stock seat height? since you are tall, can you lower it any? Does the column tilt?

 

Ax take a look at his gallery, looks like the column is modern Ford and maybe upside down.

 

I will post some more pics of the column in my gallery in about an hour. and I will try and have pics of it with seats in by sunday night

 

From looking at the pic of the column, I would say you have the column hanging way too low and not far enough back. With a setup like that, you would be driving with the steering wheel between your knees.

Jeff

 

Column is in the right way, (ignition is on the right of column) but MAN! What a column drop! Looks like 4 to 5 in. of drop. I think the wheel would be in MY lap in your truck! (I'm 5'-8" and DONE growing!)
You need to get your steering wheel up off the floor!

 

The way that picture looks. The edge of the wheel would be layin gon the stock seat edge.

 

A local in my town has a 48 f1 on a ranger frame also. His is 4x4, and a plow. Looks stock. Sorry, I don't know what seat and column he used. Looking in your gallery, I'd try to move the column up.

 

Whom so ever installed the Steering Column must have been a Midget, As @ my 5'9", even I wouldn't be able to drive your truck in comfort or be safe doing so.
Shorten that Mount up, it's suppossed to be 3"-5" inches, from the bottom of the dash.

 

Is the 3 to 5" from the column to the dash?

 

I believe 4TL8 is correct, or halfway so; the bracket is upside down, the column is correct. At least compared to the similar Fords I've dropped columns on. I'm not sure it matters. The column is too fat to fit under the dash.

 

In addition to the column drop being a bit too long, you are suffering from too shallow an angle on the column. It looks like the column penetrates the firewall in the vertical section of the firewall rather than in the sloped section of the floor like the original would have done. The shallow angle contributes to the very low steering wheel. Try disconnecting the column and putting it thru the original hole (square with rounded corners) and mock it up in that position.

 

I think that changing the angle at the firewall would involve a difficult to engineer Z bend back to the gear box. I would avoid that if at all possible and try to move the column up at the dash with a shorter drop or even modifying the dash to allow the column to move up. Changing the angle much from stock angle in the original donor (don't know how close to the original angle it is now?) is likely to require switching to a universal joint from a rag joint as rag joints are not designed to operate at much angular misalignment but are more to isolate the steering wheel from road vibration. Even small changes will often snowball down the hill, when you do something as drastic as a frame swap there are hundreds of details that need to be worked out.
Changing to an aftermarket column may be a consideration if the current one does not include a tilt option and the current one has a bulky housing that cannot be simplified that is the source of the problems with moving it closer to the dash.
I might also suggest you find a later model vehicle that you are comfortable sitting in/driving and measure it up as far as pedal to seat front distance, steering wheel diameter and height above seat cushion, distance from seatback to face of steering wheel etc and try to duplicate those relationships as close as possible in your truck. That's what I did to decide I really needed to shorten my aftermarket column 2" to make everything feel right and be comfortable.