[fixdaserver]

Have new steering column for my '69. Is this a fairly straight forward job? How many hours by the book should this take? Any special tooks?

[JIML82]

The thing to remember is that you are attaching the column directly on the gear so you want to make sure that the steering column is as central to the gear as possible. You do not want rubbing of the stop pins and you do not want abnormal loading on the bearing in the lower end of the steering column.

You first want to slide the column down throught the dash and attach it to the gear with the two nuts and lockwashers.

Then bring the column up into the dash and loosely fasten the column in place. Now you want to work on the plate that attaches the column to the floorpan.

Check to make sure that the column is in line with the gear input shaft and that there is no side loading on the bearing in the lower end of the steering column. Move the lower end of the column around so that the stop pins on the flexible coupling are central in the slots in the column flange. Then make the fastener attachments at the floor. Tighten the vertical nuts (or bolts) that attach the column up into the dash. Now go back and recheck that the stop pins are central in the column flange slots. Turn the steering wheel one quarter turn and check that the pins are still central. If the pins are not central, go back and loosen the column and adjust the lower end.

The rubber disc that is part of the flexible coupling should remain fairly flat.

JIML82

[JohnZ]

In addition, the complete step-by-step mandatory assembly sequence is shown in the Assembly Manual in UPC 9, Sheet A6; it's essential to follow the procedure to ensure that there's no lateral preload on the lower bearing, and the collapsing feature remains functional.