my whacked column rebuild

[Bextreme04]

Bextreme04,

What year column do you have? Mine is original equipment on my '74 C10, auto, tilt, column shift. I found out the hard way that even the shift on the floor column inside is a lot different than mine. There isn't a shift tube in the column so it doesn't need a lock plate. I can't remember how the lower housing and the bearing support connect. I'm sitting at my desk. I'd have to go out to the shop and look.

I don't know why I never saw you tag me in this. Are you using the @ symbol to actually tag people or just typing their name?

Mine's the original equipment '80 K25, auto, tilt, column shift. Shifting a TH400.

 

[Raider L]

I'm just typing their name, like Bextreme04, like that. I don't know how to do the @ thing. I don't even know what that means. If it's one of those cell phone things I'm lost on it because I don't own a cell phone. Auroragirl was asking me to do something like that and I had no idea what she meant. I'm 71 and I never did want to get on board with all the tech stuff. I don't even know how to make a CD but I can operate a computer. I never did need to make one and if someone taught me how to do it, I'd forget because it would be like never before I would use that info and by that time I'd forget how to do it.

 

[Raider L]

Bextreme04,

Yours is the kind with the turn signal box on the left side? With the wiper control, head lights and all that? Have you ever had your column completely apart? Ever see how the head light switch works inside of it? It's this funny bent wire that comes out from the front housing to click the switch. And several other weird things to.

But if you take the shift lever off and look inside the hole where the lever goes you could see the shift gate inside the hole where it's on the side of the front bearing support. If you ever do take the lever off, take a pic of it inside there and send it to me so I can look at it and compare it to mine.

 

[idahovette]

@Raider L , look at your keyboard above the number "2" key. Press the shift button and hit the "2" key for the @ sign then type the name you are trying to reach. You GOT this!! I just turned 72 a week ago so you will get this!!!!

 

[Bextreme04]

Bextreme04,

Yours is the kind with the turn signal box on the left side? With the wiper control, head lights and all that? Have you ever had your column completely apart? Ever see how the head light switch works inside of it? It's this funny bent wire that comes out from the front housing to click the switch. And several other weird things to.

But if you take the shift lever off and look inside the hole where the lever goes you could see the shift gate inside the hole where it's on the side of the front bearing support. If you ever do take the lever off, take a pic of it inside there and send it to me so I can look at it and compare it to mine.

Do the exact same thing you have been doing, but type the @ Symbol before the username and it will tag them so they get a message that you are talking to them. Also, quoting someone’s post will send them an alert as well. Simply go to the post you want to reply to and hit the “quote” button at the bottom right corner of the post.

The wiper and headlight controls on the column started in ‘81. Mine has turn signal switch and cruise controls on the turn signal stall only. The headlight and wiper controls are on the dash.

 

[Raider L]

@idahovette,

I see. And I did it. See, you can teach an 'ol dog new tricks!

 

[Raider L]

@Bextreme04,

Oh, okay. '81. Yeah, that's when the front ends changed I think for the better. The valance was separated from the hood, smart and about time. And the space at the corners where the hood and valance meet was filled in with some kind of body filler rubber. And I think that's when they went to duel rectangular head lights? I like the double head lights, like a '58 Impala, and the Cameo trucks. When I was rebuilding my truck I mulled over stuff like that since I had all the money I would have needed to do mods like that. I wanted one of those California convertable tops for the C10. I saw one here locally and it was something else. But unfortunately no one here had the expertise to pull it off. We didn't even have a hot rod shop yet, we have four now. One for domestic cars and pickups old, one for all foreign, one for everything off road all makes, and one for modding pickups mostly new nothing old. And they're all high as hell. Before it was nothing but dirt track racers everywhere

 

[Raider L]

Today I started my column back together. I put the rear bearing support in. Since I never could get anyone to get me a pic of what a truck shift gate looked like I put the one I had back in. Oh well. I need to take the ignition switch off again and take the rod out and bend on it slightly to get it sliding smooth again. It was okay a couple of days ago when I bent it around all over the place and I haven't touched it since. And somehow it doesn't slide in and out of the switch like it did. Man, I swear I didn't lay a hand on it. It's just been laying in the rear housing and nothing has touched it. But I put the bearing support in and I'll be if it's tight again.

This rod.

It goes in here.

And tracks in here, in the groove cast into the left side of the rear bearing support. I mustlay flat in the groove so it can slide smoothly when you turn the key.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Raider L]

I know, details, details, details. Most people haven't ever seen these parts let alone want to know anything about them. Ohhh, but when they can't turn their key or something is jammed then they will be wondering what's in the column hanging it up.

I'll be doing the whole column like this.

 

[Raider L]

@Bextreme04

How do you put text between the photos? When I first came on GMSB someone told me but I forgot

 

[Bextreme04]

@Bextreme04

How do you put text between the photos? When I first came on GMSB someone told me but I forgot

When you upload the file, you hit insert thumbnail and then just type. Then you can insert the next thumbnail and repeat. Glad to see you got the tagging down now. I’d like to help you with the shift gate pic, but I’ve never had mine apart and haven’t been able to find any info on it either

 

[Raider L]

@Betreme04,

Yeah, that's weird isn't it. Since I've been needing to see a pic of one, like the last couple of weeks I can't tell you how many pages I've looked at trying to see one. Now, I can find all kinds of ones for trifive's, and standard columns with no tilt. But none with tilt.

I told Auroragirl and I guess you could do this to, and that is take the shift lever out and shine a flash light down in the hole and you will see it, it's right under where the tip of the shift lever sticks in the hole. As a matter of fact that's where the tip of the lever goes and that is right in the shift gate.

 

[Raider L]

But what you'd have to do to get all of it, I guess is to shift down to D1 and take a pic, the D2 and if what you see has changed much, and take a pic, then D, take a pic, then N, take a pic if it looks a little different, then R and so on until you have seen all of the gate. Post those or as many seem to be different, I will print those pics, cut them up into a composite and I'll have a pic of the whole gate in one pic. Then I'll reduce it or enlarge it until it's close to actual size and transfer the image to my gate top see where I need to file or enlarge or whatever. And there you go!

 

[Raider L]

@Bextreme04,

You can turn the lower housing without the shift lever in it just get a hold of the housing and turn the damn thing. You'd just be over coming the linkage down there and the shifter on the trans. If you've got the muscle you can do it. I don't anymore, ha, ha. You'll know when it shifts, you'll either feel it or hear it or both.

 

[Raider L]

I'm at the point now where I'm trying to get that rack and sector gear in the front bearing support correctly and figure out the right way to get the bearing support locked into the rear bearing support and get the pin on the end of the ignition rod hooked into the loop on the rack, and make sure when I put the two bearing supports together that the key will be actuating the ignition rod in the ignition switch correctly. This will make sure when I turn the key to lock and start, it will be pushing the ignition switch right.

Once those two bearing supports are together and the switch is working right with the key the rest will be a snap. I figured out last night that the easiest way to hook the pin on the rod, is to take the ignition switch off the column so I can get the rod's pin as far up inside the rear housing as possible to make sure it's in the loop on the rack. Because I found, by testing out getting those two bearing supports together I won't be able to see up inside the rear housing very well to see if the pin on the rod end is in the loop good unless the end of the rod is where I can see it. And the only way to do that is to undo it from the switch, I can always reattach the ignition switch later, that's easy. That will be like replacing the ignition switch which I've done several times with the column in the truck by laying on the floor board on my back. And doing it even from underneath doesn't accidentally unhook the pin from that loop. Apparently once it's in the loop it's in. It's in the track of the rear bearing support when you get it in the loop. That track holds it in place.