'65 Steering Column Installation
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,618
Likes: 149
From: Anaheim California
'65 Steering Column Installation
I just re-installed my steering column. Where the splined shaft goes into the rag joint coupler there seems to be quite a bit of adjustment for and aft. How far for or aft should the shaft go into the rag joint? Or do I adjust it in or out as I wish. I could not find any specific reference to this adjustment. Thanks
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,003
Likes: 1,509
From: Prescott Arizona
One of the earlier Service Manuals (65 or 66) mentions that an adjustment can be made to the steering wheel location by loosening everything and letting the splined shaft drop lower into the rag joint coupler. It's a good way to buy some 'chest room'. There is a minimum gap that should be maintained between the end of the steering box splined worm gear shaft and the end of the steering mast shaft. I assume that's because the body is mounted on rubber bushings and can flex back and forth although the movement must be somewhat limited. I looked at the rag joint and guessed that there could be as much as a 1/2-inch of play (compression) before the flex joint bottomed out and that's the distance I kept when I slid the steering shaft down towards the box shaft. The 66 service manual says to "Grasp the steering wheel and by moving mast jacket in or out of dash panel, adjust to desired fore and aft steering position" and then it says, "Note: Lower end of steering shaft is splined to allow a variation in steering wheel positions". So, it doesn't give an exact dimension but I'd say you can 'adjust' the location of the steering column a good inch and a half up or down depending on where you clamp it into the rag joint and that should allow a little tuning to where the steering wheel sits.
Last edited by Vet65te; Jul 12, 2007 at 06:17 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 38,897
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From: Washington Michigan
There's a "dimple" in the angled tab off the front of the bracket that bolts to the firewall; that dimple is designed to fit in the corresponding depression in the top of the column jacket to place it in the fore-aft "normal" design position. However, you can set it to your liking an inch or so in either direction. 
