What steering columns are being used that could be found fairly cheap and easy to install with the rack and pinion steering setup?

 

Chevy van with floor shift. Aftermarket aren't that expensive if you buy the painted version. If you are talking about the R&P that bolts to the beam axle, you have already spent a lot of money, what's a few bucks more?
I see you are new here, WELCOME! Since this forum covers 3 generations of trucks and all sizes, I would suggest you put more details in your posts about what truck you have and mods that you are asking about. If you can put at least the year in the topic then the people that are most knowlegable about that generation are more likely to read it. That way you'll get a quicker and more applicable answer, what works on one generation may not work on another and we won't have to ask for more details. If it takes too many posts to get the specifics of your question, some may figure they have already read your post and not read it again or see a number of responses and figure someone's already answered you.
Another hint: add you city and state to your profile in the user's CP so we know where you are located, you never know who might be living close by.

 

Yah what AX said. To answer the question with the info you gave I'd have to say, go to a wrecking yard and pick one. Welcome to FTE some more info on your truck will help narrow it down.

 

I guess that would help allot huh, sorry about that yes i am a newb lol. I just bought my first mid fifty truck so trying to learn the ins and outs. I got a full mustang II suspention off ebay for $150 bucks and wanted to know whats a cool steering column for our trucks. thanks

 

Who's MII suspension did you get for 150.00??? Is this a stock setup or an aftermarket setup for a 53-56 F100? Does it use the OEM single pivot stamped lower control arm with the long round "torque rod" going back to a bracket at the frame with a big rubber bushing? What size brakes? What # and spacing lugs on the hubs? Power or manual R&P?

 

$150 I'd bet its fresh from a Pinto.

 

Or a 4 cyl MII. That was my thought as well.

 

its a stock setup not sure what the bolt patern is yet gotta look a little more it just got dropped off today. If its from a 4 cyl MII is that a problem? I know you can upgrade a lot of things like the rotors and coil springs.

 

If it has 4 lugs the only things you might consider using for a truck is the spindles and the rack. Everything else is too light duty for a truck.

 

Even the rack won't work, it is the wrong length. By the time you upgrade everthing it will need to make it useable all that will be left is the spindles, and even they aren't that great. The stock MII is way too light duty (designed for a 2K # econobox with a lightweight engine and passenger compartment nearly between the rear wheels, not a 5K # truck where most of the weight is on the front wheels) and is too narrow to be used on your truck, IMHO you should put it back on ebay and make another plan. SORRY!
In spite of what it says in magazines and on build sheets at shows almost no one is using actual MII suspension setups in anything heavier/wider than a model A. The current replacement IFS are only loosly based on the MII design and very few to no parts on them ever came out of a Ford plant.

 

Well this isnt going to be my daily driver and if i have to upgrade to a beefier set of coil springs so be it $60 more dollars. If everyone has been making this swap in the past i dont see a problem. next thing i know you will be telling me to sell my chopped 56 cab because nobody is doing that anymore and the roof could fly off because it wasnt welded as good as when it came from the factory, lol. I understand i got a pretty good deal and im not in need of a full show quality settup like the ones they are selling in the magazines. ill stay true to how they did it back in the day and if it dont work out thats my problem, right? i came here looking for some good info not to get bullied into selling my stuff off, thanks

 

They are 4 lug thats the only problem i see but that could be changed if i upgrade to bigger brakes.

 

And good info not bullying is what you got. This place is not into bullying, just telling it like it is. If you don't like the answer don't ask the question since your mind is already made up anyhow.
That is exactly what we suspected from the price, a stock early Pinto/MII 4 cyl crossmember and suspension.
Problem #1: the tread width is too narrow.
Problem #2: the crossmember is too narrow for your frame.
Problem #3: if you widen the crossmember to fit the frame, the rack will be too narrow. Widening the rack will result in the steering geometry being dangerously wrong if not done exactly the right way. Even if done the right way the akerman will still be wrong since it was designed for the stock tread width and wheelbase, which will make the truck numb/twitchy in turns and wear tires.
Problem #4: The springs are too light to support even an empty engine bay. Yes heavier springs can be substituted but the ride will suffer. Heavier springs means the shocks will be valved too light so the truck will bounce down the road and nose dive when you apply the brakes.
Problem #5: well on secord thought it won't nose dive much because those puny little 9" disks were designed to (barely) stop a 2000# sh**box driven by a housewife to the grocery store, the original drum brakes are far more effective than those will be.
Problem #6: there aren't many wheels available larger than the 13x 4.5" that came on it originally in that bolt pattern. Unless you want to look like you are driving on space saver spares you'll need to swap out the hubs, disks and calipers.
Problem #7: the stamped suspension arms especially the lower one with the single pivot and that strut bushing was once again designed for that same 2K# SB with ~ 1100# on the front suspension, not for the 35- 3700# it will need to support in your truck. Carrying that weight over bumps and potholes will soon beat it to death. A front suspension failure at speed is not a fun thing, no steering, no brakes, one corner of the frame dragging on the ground, wheel push sideways into the fender. Not pretty IF you survive.
Problem #8: Worst reason for using unsuited parts for something as critical as the front suspension, steering is "I got it cheap"! How much is your life, the lives of your loved ones, and finally the lives of the innocents on the road with you worth? We always say in racing: "don't buy a 10.00 helmet unless you have a 10.00 head."

I could go on, but either you have read enough to realize I am trying to keep you alive to enjoy this hobby and save you a lot of money you might invest into that front end and keep you from destroying a perfectly good frame and having another bad decision ending up in the scrap yard. Or else you really don't want to hear the facts, and nothing I say is going to make an impression on your reason. Ask anyone here, I usually know what I'm talking about.
NOTE: NO ONE has been using a stock MII/pinto front end in the last 20 years, for all the above reasons. If it was a good idea you'd see them on every truck since they give them away for practically free at the salvage yards.

 

I did a 56 F100 about twenty years ago with stock Mustang two front suspension components. I bough a wider cross member from a co in Ohio (forgot who) and the rack extenders also new rotors that were drilled to 5 lug and V8 springs. The suspension will carry the truck just fine. Mine had a 351W/C6 combo. Had it a long time but the one thing I did not like was even with the rack extender I had to use 8 inch wheels in the front to make the front look right to me. I like the Volare better but that's just me. Don't believe everything that you see written here some people make a lot of noise yet never did the install.

 

I have never died either, but I know it's not something I'd recommend doing. I may not have put a MII in a hot rod (for good reason!), but have experience with the design from racing with them, and researching their geometry.
20 years ago the Chinese thought it was a good idea to protest in Tianamin Sq. and Ford thought it was a good idea to buy Jaguar. People in the US thought it was a good idea to elect G. Bush. I did things 20 years ago that I would never encourage someone to do today! Learn from past mistakes, don't repeat them.
History lesson: The original pinto/MII IFS was "discovered" by hot rodders looking for an better alternative to the buggy spring for their 1920's to early 30s hot rods. Their needs were unique and specific: Full fenders were back in vogue so they wanted something with a crossmember close to the (narrow) width of the frame and tread width of that era, but with short control arms that would still tuck the wheels under the fenders. It should also be small and compact to hide under the fenders without needing drastic sheet metal surgery. Being from a lightweight car was also prefered so the ride would not be harsh on their lightweight rods (cruising was becoming popular,but the SO complained and wanted to stop often if the ride was bouncing her bladder unmercifully). A tight integrated steering gear would be the icing on the cake since good stock steering boxes (the same basic antique design that Ford stubbornly continued using in his trucks into the 60's) were getting hard to come by. Inexpensive and easy to find was the final ideal criteria since there was no ebay and very few aftermarket manufacturers, parts needed to come from the local salvage yard and parts store. Enter the Pinto (and to a lesser degree the Corvair). This was a match made in heaven for those rodders. Narrow crossmember width very close to the 20s-30's ladder frame, very short control arms (one of it's downfalls for use in larger cars and trucks) that kept the tires under the fenders. Short shocks and spring towers that didn't require cutting up those precious fenders, and something new for the times, R&P steering! No more sloppy worm geared boxes and drag links, thank you. The lower trailing link bracket fell right on the frame, and as a bonus the link resembled the split radius rods used on the beam axles. Painted black the IFS all but disappeared in the cave like darkness of the fenders. Finally Pinto's propensity for rusting in half and/or turning into a self toasting marshmallow, and the same components being used in a lot of the econoboxes (spelled with an sh**, durring the first GB administration orchestrated "gas crisis") Ford was building then such as the first gen MII, the Bobcat, and the Fairmont meant that there were an abundance of easily found (and cheap) donors in the scrap yard around the country. No gearheads were rodding any post WW2 vehicles and especially no pickups, except for the occasional custom leadsled, and most of them already had IFS from the factory. That meant no one was looking for an IFS replacement for these heavier, wider vehicles. Finally rodding changed, prewar starters were few and far between and the economy was again booming, so they had skyrocketed in price. A generation had passed and speed and power were king again. The Van craze made it cool to drive a truck, and the new rodders found the later model vehicles were being rodded at the drag strip rather than customized. The international marketplace created by the internet and instant gratification of telephone and credit card gave rise to a much larger and diversified aftermarket. The >WW2 rodder wanted a lighter and sexier IFS to compete with the straight axled gassers they saw at the strip with easier to obtain replacement parts. They looked at the rodding magazines of the day and saw the P/MII unit being used, so they tried adapting that to their vehicles. The crossmember was too narrow for the wider frames, so they first cut and lengthened it. That made the R&P too short, and not understanding much about IFS steering geometry, they took the easy and obvious route, cut and lengthened the outer tie rods. This lead to a number of unfortunate incidents when the vehicle would make sudden unexpected moves while driving down the road or a poorly welded crossmember would break. The aftermarket stepped in and offered a widened crossmember and properly lengthened inner tierods and dust boots that used the rest of the stock P/MII components. This somewhat solved the handling issues, but not the weakness of the stamped control arms (made from slightly thicker version of the rust prone steel of the donors) and the flaky handling geometry of that "unique" trailing arm arrangement. The trailing arms were also becoming an installation liability when they often interfered with the underbody. The aftermarket responded by first giving us a replacement wishbone lower control arm with a second pivot. Then they matched it with an upper tubular control arm. While they were at it and this far into it a few decided to chuck all the OEM components and start with a clean paper to design a proper geometry IFS. Fatman was one of the last major to see the light and stop championing IFS replacements using the P/MII OEM parts. Unfortunately the MII moniker stuck to these newly designed aftermarket IFS setups even tho they have little to nothing in common. That brings us up to the present day.

Try to find that crossmember co now. Why would they have gone out of business if it was a still a good idea to use OEM parts? Why would all the major aftermarket IFS manufacturers stop using stock components and manufacture their own improved design?
Even you admit there is something better out of the scrapyard, and the P/MII wouldn't be your choice today even tho the Volare is not a stellar design either IMHO. There are much better choices out there, there are 11 sections on suspension alternatives here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/10/0/ and they don't even really cover one of the best salvage yard choices, the Jag sedan.
Anything CAN be done, doesn't mean it SHOULD be done. Why encourage someone to spend bundles of time and money on something that is actually a worse choice and has many more ways to dangerously screw up than just rebuilding the stock suspension, a viable choice especially for the rank beginner? That's like making a kid walk to school in a snowstorm just because you did it when you were a kid instead of suggesting they ride the bus instead!