Hello Everyone,

For my power steering upgrade project I'm preparing to reassemble the shortened steering column on my 66 F250. It is an automatic shift column. I have a few questions before I begin reassembly that I hope others who have performed this procedure can answer. Where available I'm taking parts from a 74 donor truck with manual floor shift.

Do I need to bend the 66 shifter linkage arm at the bottom of the steering column assembly to compensate for being 2 inches shorter so that it will correctly attach to the rod that goes down to the transmission?

The flange on the end of the steering column shaft that attaches to the PS gearbox has two small semicircle cutouts for the pins on the rag mount assembly on the end of the PS box. I test fit the steering column shaft to the pins and it matches up well. The instructions I'm using call for using a die grinder to enlarge the smaller cutout on the end of the shaft because the rag assembly on the PS gearbox is supposed to have one small pin and one large pin versus the 66 flange that has two smaller cutouts for smaller pins on the manual gearbox. Aparrently the larger pin is not supposed to fit the flange on the 66 steering column shaft. It looks like it will fit to me but, I want to make sure I'm not overlooking something. Do I need to enlarge the cutout on the 66 steering column shaft flange?

I know I need to use the PS column firewall plate from the 74 truck that is on the engine compartment side of the firewall. Do I need to use the firewall mounting plate and rubber boot on the cab side of the firewall from the 74 truck as well?

Also, any advise on how to compress the spring in the bottom of the main column that fits over the end of the shifter tube while aligning the shifter arm linkage and attaching the turn signal housing would be appreciated. I hope this all makes since.