This is the bushing that disintegrates causing much slop in the shifing tube. NOTE:- The main item to identify is the "Nylon Bushing" at the top of the picture. This is the complete breakdown of the steering column I know.Įnter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.Steering Column on '64 thru '66 Thunderbirds There’s no easy way to do it after the fact if you forget. Remember to put the new steering column boot on before you get the shift tube reassembled. Reinstallation, is, they say, the reverse of removal. The detent plate has been ground down to almost nothing in places. That little nut was used as a shim between the shifter lever and the spring to keep the notched lever pushed up against the detents. It was stuck in the shift tube and may have been used as a lower bearing–there was no bearing at the bottom end. The white plastic piece with the spiral cut in it appears to be part of a pvc pipe. Someone in the past had shimmed the detent plate as a temporary fix. Most old shifters don’t seem to have a notch that deep. It should be noted that even with the towel, there was some damage to the collar. A few swift strokes of a hammer, and the pin came out. The shifter arm is resting on a vice under the towel. The swing away doors came off with the removal of two small bolts and a center clip. The gauge bezels are off, but didn’t need to be. I only needed to remove the trim panel, lower fascia pieces and the radio access cover.
Not unlike landing a fish after a long fight. The column is attached under the dash to a U fitting with two bolts on either side. I should have taken this off earlier-a shop light on this side helps to illuminate the nearly inaccessible (and dark!) bolts on the engine side of the firewall. The rubber boot on the firewall needs to come off. Behind it is the shift arm and one of the two bolts mounting the steering shaft to the firewall. The side attached to the steering shaft is already removed. A clearer shot of the 12 point bolt on the steering box side of the rag joint (far right). Behind that is what remains of the rag joint. In the foreground, top right is the bolt holding the master cylinder to the booster. It only took about 15 minutes to realize that this wouldn’t work. But I tried long enough to put a few dents in the dashpad on the backstrokes. In the end, I couldn’t get the shifter arm out while the column was in the car. Mine was in ok shape, one of the few original pieces that was. With the turn signal out, the top bearing is visible. I had to push the harness up from below to get some slack before it would come off over the shaft. I knew I was going to replace this, but took it off carefully anyhow.
I had to see it in action to visualize how it all worked. The rusty arm bolted to the shift tube is the mechanism for swinging the wheel away. I went out and got a snap ring tool to help with removal of these pesky things. The canceling prong for one direction was broken off and lying in the column. Getting the wheel off reveals the turn signal mechanism. But I still used the big socket wrench! You will absolutely need a steering wheel puller to get the wheel off the shaft. Here’s the column, set up and ready to get to work. In the end, it was absolutely necessary (for safety) and worth the frustrations I encountered. This is a major project I undertook without fully realizing the scope of work involved.
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