Hey guys When cruising around in my 53 Chevy I find myself constantly looking at the top of the steering wheel. It is in my direct line of sight and it gets a little annoying to look at. I would like to tilt the steering wheel down about two inches. My thinking is I could raise the hole in the firewall a few inches to pivot the steering wheel down. I would like to install some kind of collapsible intermediate shaft between the stock steering column (cut at the firewall) and the stock steering box with D universal joints each end. Not that I intend on crashing any time soon, but if I do, I don't want that steering column spearing towards my chest. I've seen similar mods done in the past, but before I get cutting I need to find out a few things: The diameter of the stock steering column and the inner diameter of the column housing Can you cut the column from near the base of the steering box and press fit a bearing? Could a collapsible intermediate shaft fit between the box and firewall? Would it be worth doing it this way? Cheers in advance [emoji108] J Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Get a Flaming River unit and enjoy life. After all, there is no sense in reinventing the wheel is there? Lol Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
If you want to retain the OEM column and box, the outer tube and inner shaft would need to cut and then both ends machined with 3/4DD flats. The solid steering shaft is close to 3/4" diameter. Next the outer tube would need a floor plate to secure column to firewall and a bearing to support inner shaft where it was cut and a locking collar, and another bearing between inner shaft and column tube where it exits steering box. I used a short Borgeson 3/4DD to 1DD collapsible intermediate shaft on my 46 Olds to p*** engineering inspection down here. A 3/4DD to 1DD universal is required to mate the column to intermediate shaft and another universal at steering box. A lot of work, it would be easier to have wheel resized? What front end do you have, by the sound of it it's all OEM? Plenty of threads on the HAMB in relation to doing this. A is .748" and B is .550"
Hey thanks that's really informative. I've been in two minds about either cutting down the steering wheel diameter to 16" (from 18") or tilting the column. Yes, my front end is OEM - rebuilt with upgraded sway bar and disc brakes. While making the steering wheel smaller would certainly be easier, and more original in many ways, I feel that angling the column would result in a more comfortable steering position, maintain good leverage over the already rather heavy manual steering gear, and be more safe as it can be designed to collapse on impact in a worst case scenaro. My hope is to have all the parts at my disposal before starting the work. No one likes to get half way through a weekend job to find they need to wait 2 weeks for the right component to be shipped in. Stumpy is there somewhere I can see photos of your setup?
If you still have the column shifter you might need two flexible joints. One for steering one for shifter.
I should have mentioned that the car has had a 4 -1/2" roof chop, so a lower seat is required for decent headroom and to see the traffic lights. The seat is in a very nice position, its just the steering wheel that's a little skyward. I have a floor shift so I won't need any added U joints for the transmission.
if willing to go through all of the work to do as shown above to add a section that might function in an accident, why not skip that and use basic info shared and add a u-joint that would allow you to use a longer bracket to lower column?
Cut top of wheel off....some customs had this done back in the day.Caution, pic is from a "newer" custom)
I stuck a '56 210 wheel on a '52 years ago & scrunched down in the seat ... all you see is the horn ring.
Pretty soon this car will be my only car and I do some long hauls so comfort and safety have a high priority for me. I've heard that a primary cause for death in crashes pre 1967 was being impaled on the steering column. A grand total of probably zero people will be particularly impressed by a bone stock steering column in my car, but it'll be more comfortable and safer with this mod. Maybe one of these Flaming River collapsible intermediate shafts will do the trick:
I bought one of these, super easy to install and really well made. They claim it takes a bit of road vibration out of the wheel as the shaft absorbs a bit of the bump and grind.
One thing I haven't read about is how well do these u joints/shafts perform with a manual steering box? There will be a whole lot more torque placed on these joints when doing tight maneuvers as there will be no power steering to ease off the pressure. Heavier than original with radial tires as well. Do these joints/collapsing shafts have a propensity to develop play quickly under these conditions? If they do wear reasonably quick that's just another thing to throw more money at down the track Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Limeworks can make collapsible steering columns that are legal in Australia, we just bought a couple. It'll look better in your car then anything from flaming river.
Cheers ******. That's good. It covers the safety aspect. I suppose you could just put a 2 U joints at the end to make it tilt to bring the steering wheel height down. All these collapsible intermediate shafts seem to have a minimum length of 12". From the firewall to the steering box is 10" in my car. It's gunna be one of those simple things that ends up being tricky eh?
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