1952-59 Ford column shifter

my 54 customline has a 302 with c-4 ******,still has the original column steering wheel and shifter,my question is do i need to remove the steering wheel to get the shifter column out or how do i go about that,it looks like there is a bolt above the steering box,i got to clear off some grease around that area.im guessing my garage is around 19 degrees right now so i just wanted to get some kind of attack plan before i get out there.

 

I found it very helpful to have the steering wheel off when I took my shifter off the column. It just gives you a lot more room to work.

The job is fairly straightforward, but just one hint:

You may have problems lining up the two bolts that hold the steering column drop to the bottom of the dash when you go to put it all back together. I couldn't get the bolts to start straight on mine. Either they wouldn't start, or they'd try to cross-thread.

I solved the problem by loosening (but not removing) the four bolts which hold the master cylinder in place. This allows a little slack in the pedal ***embly, enough to properly align the column drop bolts.

I then started and snugged the column drop bolts which then lined up with no problems. Then I went back and re-tightened the master cylinder bolts. Problem solved.

There will be a "stump" sticking out of the steering wheel lower housing when you get the shifter mechanism off. You can cut this off with a hack saw or cut-off wheel or, like me, leave it in place to be used as a tach mount later on.

Back in the day the hole which remains in the steering column drop was often used to mount an indicator light of some sort...a red one meaning you'd just "gotten some" from the girl who was with you.

Most of the time the girl didn't know what the little red light meant...but the guys sure did!

 

the reason i wanted to get rid of this was to mount a tach there thanks.

 

intresting info on the red light . i like to read stuff like this . back in the day was before my day's , lol. my 55 was an original a-t car . and now with the 302 and aod it still use's the original shifter . i think its kinda diffrent like that . they simply cut the tab off and re welded it in the proper spot on the bottom of the column .

 

My world growing up was very different than today. A much slower, simpler place. It is difficult for my youngest son, who is 19, to imagine what life was like without the internet, portable phones and a nanny government.

We learned what we needed to know from actual experience, not from the m*** distribution of questionable wisdom. We knew much less, that is certain, but that which we did know was rich with the validation of having learned it first-hand.

I feel a great heaviness when I think of what my sons will encounter during their lives, knowing that they know so much less than they think they do...and have experienced so much less than they think they have, as well.

Which is why, I suppose, I resist change so strongly. What we had, simple as it was, was good...mostly because, a**** other things, it was real.

What we have, on the other hand, probably isn't...for exactly the same reasons.

BTW: My red light was rarely lit...