Been seeing a lot of diffent lenths in steering columns 28" 30" 32" At this time my truck does not have a steering column and I was wondering what is the standard lenth and what is the best method of deciding the lenth I need.

 

Jack,

lots of guys use 32"... best method of determining length is... have the seat in the truck where it will stay... using a broom handle (and a helper if you have one) and either a pie pan or a cross bar for the steering wheel. Put it in the floor board hole and use tie wire or coat hanger to make a temporary column drop, try different positions. Make sure it coincides with your arm on the window sill also... when you find the magic spot, mark it measure it.

Make sure you have enough sticking down thru the firewall to make the connections for the shift linkage (if any) and the steering linkage. I bought a 32" but wished I had bought a 36". I had to do some funky extension stuff to clear headers and such to get to the MII steering box.

It's all a matter of what feels right for you and everyone is built different. If you're using a tilt or tilt-slide consider that also...

I went thru two on mine (just like everything else on my truck... first was a junkyard caddy column then finally popped for a nice shiny Ididit tilt column... I like shiny...

hope it helps
John ( <-shades for the shiney)


http://www.clubfte.com/users/jniolon...columnin_a.htm

 

John,
Thanks for the link. I'll be heading down this road soon on my 53. So, may I ask why a longer column would have solved your linkage issues?


Tom

 

Thanks John,
Very nice article.

 

Tom

clearance with the header tubes... the intermediate shaft was within 1/8" of the header tube... by dropping the tube down (by extension) I gained the clearance I needed to get to the steering box...

john