Hi all. I'm new to the forum, and appreciate all of the great information that the excellent members offer so freely!

I have a '65 F100 SB that I got from my brother-in-law (bro #1). Before I got the truck, his brother (bro #2) decided he was going to try to pull the steering wheel using a slide hammer puller. He never got the wheel off, but he did pull the steering shaft upward by ~1-1/2", stretched/tore the flex coupler, and bent the flange at the bottom of the shaft that attached to the flex coupling. Now when I make a tight turn there is a really nasty metal-to-metal grinding sound when I turn the steering wheel.

I am guessing that I can probably re-flatten the flange, but I'm not sure what all will need to be repaired/replaced in the column to make it work right again.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions?

Thanks,

Buzz

 

Welcome to FTE

First off, the steering coupling flange which is part of the steering shaft isn't flat, it's curved on purpose. There's no telling what else is wrong, till the column is taken apart. Inside the column are bearings and retainers, the upper flange, spring washers, a shift tube and other pieces. Pulling up the steering shaft could (prolly) have damaged those parts. It's unsafe to drive it the way it is. That damaged steering coupling could break...complete loss of steering will result. You need to take the column apart and go from there. Some of the parts like the bearings/retainers, shift collar, and steering coupling are readily available.

 

Thanks Bill. I did forget to mention that as soon as I became aware of the problem, I parked the truck.

I will work on getting into the column this weekend and see what's going on in there.

 

Most rental outfits rent wheel pullers. Please don't use a slide hammer.

 

Also like to welcome you to FTE. Had to restore steering wheel on my 65 after beating it to death attempting to remove it, fortunately did not do any damage to inner steering column parts. Learned 'steering wheel' puller only way to go, and sometimes it can still be a challenge. It's been sometime, but if recall need to pull the entire column to assess the problem. May want to check the bearing retainer, it's the bracket between the rag joint and firewall, perhaps it shifted and rubbing against something. Likely have the column shift so it's going to be bit more involved. You only want to have to do this once, so suggest take opportunity to replace parts needed to rebuild the column, should'nt cost much, couple bushings about $3.50 ea. and retainer $6.00. Usually find on these vintage trucks the turn signal cam lobes are broken so mechanism does not cancel. If the case, and can fit in budget, it would be good time to replace. In event end up doing so, suggest do not cut wires, when you disconnect the harness you will find the pins can be removed using tweezers, or something simular, prefer not cutting wires if don't have to. Finally, would add horn brush to shopping list. Again, welcome to FTE, warehouse of info. and helpful members.

dave