so are you guys building the safer collapsing steering column...

or keeping the solid rod columns when you do a build???

as I was stripping my project down to the ch***is, I got to the steering column, & found it was a solid rod, from the worm gear in the steering box to the wheel... I remember reading that one of the early safety inovations was the collapsable steering column... seems many early drivers died at even low speed crashes, by having their rib cage crushed by the solid steering rod...

now I'm not a safety nazi... I love driving my 38 Nash, partly because I don't have to wear seat belts...

but since this build is something I plan on driving like a "hot rod" I was thinking some additional safety might be in order... just curious...

do you make those kinds of changes, or dam the safety in name of tradition ???

I think I could add some safety in the form of the collapsable steering column without detracting from the vintage look???

any suggestions for parts ??? I don't want a street rod tilt column

 

I think the safety of steering columns is pushed back ====second to form & function, I've thought about the safety of them.......

 

I'm fine with the solid rod in my Nash, cause I drive it like an old mans car ( it's a 4 door, not a hot rod ) but this one, I could get out of hand with once in a while, so I think seat belts, & any other safety items I can add without detracting from the look, I should probably do ???

 

I'm a retired firefighter/emergency medical tech - I remember at an Emergency Medicine seminar I went to one of the 'Old School' Doctors there told me one of the most common cause of death in auto accidents back in the day was chest injuries/impalements caused from the steering columns.

He said he also dug a lot of keys out of peoples kneecaps... stop and think where the ignition was in a lot of 50's - 60's cars...

Another post;

Steering column injuries

 

I say yes to seat/lap belts,there is some descent 'period' looking ones on the market,(i don't think anyone would get a rope out to hang you for putting em in),i'm sure you could fab your column to be collapsible,but i really think it would be over kill. if i stopped to think about the safety of the clunker i drove or what others have done i wouldn't leave the house,i would make sure my column & steering are up to pare with the brakes,drive like your driving a 60yr old car...i ride a 9ft long chopper with only 1 brake (rear) so i know to think a head....

 

just a quick internet search didn't turn up anything that wasn't chromed, & $750.00... so I'll likely build my own, mirroring my original as best I can, unless there are good reasonably priced prefabs out there with an original ( not street rod ) look

 

I'm using 2 u-joints and an intermediate double-D shaft on a 30 degree incline. So my steering column movement should be minimal on a front end collision......I hope. But anything can happen for sure. I'm more concerned with a side impact. My ****box is a tin can. lol.

But to reach the steering ***embly on an impact, the engine will need to displace quite a bit. If that happens, I have bigger problems to worry about.

 

Still using the old ones in mine.
I know about impaling on them and all.
Also the Dash ignition was a safety problem. People with no seat belts were hitting them with their knees in a collision. That sounds like a bad day having your key buried into your knee.

 

dont much care about my safety in a old car.hell you can get hurt or killed cuttin the gr***.or going anywhere in public. its just life.do you think about that firebomb you are hauling around with you?think of it like this, that steering colunm will keep you from getting cut up flying thru the windshield by keeping you in your seat.

 

Thanks for the link GATOR, I see Speedway sells something that's not too street roddy looking... I'll probably still build my own...

key in the knee... funny thing, in my M-5, the key is on the p***enger side of the shifter... I suppose they wanted to protect the driver... no worry it's only the p***engers knees...

 

HELL you can now get killed just going to the movies! or eating in the wrong restaurant,when it's your time --it's your time,what about the million that had crashes over the years & survived? just enjoy your car & life.you can make a little safer,
there a thread on making a column,take it and make a crush zone in it.

 

I don't really do any safety suff in my old vehicles....But to think a hard plastic wheel on a rigid column holds you in place? Absolutely,you'll be like a chicken on a skewer ready to roast And contains all the body mess inside the vehicle so those driving by aren't shocked by a blanket covered body in the road.

 

Ya know I was just asked a question on a different subject and the answer I gave that fella is the same as the one that I am going to have to give to you.

"Ya know I have never really thought about it . . ."

I did know a fella that had a big lump in his sternum after spending his alloted time in the hospital due to a crash. He hit the end of a gaurd rail at 80+ and because he wasn't wearing a belt the guard rail missed him. But he did get layed out on the steering wheel and the center of the colum hit him. That was in a '64 Chevy truck and I think that it was considered a saftey column at the time.


But like I said, "Ya know I have never really thought about it . . ."

I don't think that anyone would slight you for running a "saftey column" and piece of mind it priceless.

 

here the DIY column tect, you could just put a slider section inline, with the outer being mesh cut-kinda like GM did in the 70's

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=677999&highlight=column

 

seat belts/shoulder harnesses are more important than the steering shaft.

 

The column wasn't that much of a deal until car companys moved steering gears farther forward. It's the frame bending behind the box that shoved the steering wheel back.

 

X2 what he said.

 

here is a tect on old mustang but it should give ya some picture to look at......picture #1 the rest is bluh,bluh

http://www.mustangandfords.com/howto/30247_collapsible_steering_column/index.html


here's a mopar version,

 

some good info here... I want an original look, but since the parts are out there, there is no reason not to build in some safety, even if it doesn't look like it...

I'm sure adding a couple U joints, & taking the rod out of plane would do the same thing on impact... I may have to do that anyway, to get around the V-8

mine in stock form, had no u joints, & was an almost 6 ft of solid rod

 

I think if you have a drag link etc then the steering stuff is isolated. I believe that when detroit started making cars with front steer and especially R&P then a straight shot to the driver is very likely, but our old tin usually has a few pieces that isloate the steering shaft. Even still, i don't encourage bullett shaped horn ****ons.

 

Having had to help the emergency workers pull a guy off a 65 Mustang column after he hit a VW bug head on in the fog I don't buy that at all.

My son's alive because the column collapsed in his 79 ElCamino when he went off the end of the road into a ditch bank and folded the frame on he Elkie up to the point the left front wheel didn't touch the ground because the frame was sitting on the ground. That was with his seat belt properly fastened.

A guy could build his own collapsible column easily enough using the shaft out of a later model and making up a tube with one piece that would slide inside the other on impact.

 

Looks like there are 2 issues here not one:

Crash where the column moves into you and the other where you move into the column.

Collapsable column and seatbelt/shoulder belt would be the best combination.

Better a broke, not quite so traditional ride, than a column through the chest.

But then it IS YOUR life not ours.

 

I saw an early Mustang in a junkyard with what I think was this issue. It got my attention since I owned a Falcon. I wish I had a camera. I don't remember much about it, but I do remember the thought that it didn't take much of an impact for the steering wheel to be moved back toward the driver.

 

Well, it's obvious that the more safety features we work into our builds, the better. However, in a general sense, this can only go so far before things start to take away from the look & feel that we all know as hot rods (not as much with customs). This thing we do is relatively dangerous. That being said (and correct me if I'm wrong), aren't most of our hot rod steering columns collapsible due to the joints that exist between the shaft & the box? Also, incorporating an inline collapsible shaft is perfectly do-able. I believe the shafts that slide over one another with a nylon shear pin are readily available. Although the details are a little hazy, I can remember working one into my '66 truck, which did not have one from the factory. And I totally agree with "dreamweaver" when he said that a good seat belt/shoulder harness in combination with a collapsible column is the best combination. But, remember that it's a hot rod.

 

The collapsible colum was a federal mandate satring in the 1967 Car production year. As others have stated, you can build one using the colapsible shaft out of a later colum and tubes that slide. You would also need to have slides in the upper mount.

 

Safety is for pusses.

 

Seatbelts are a no brainer. Since 6/25/78 I've been convinced they work. We were in a 1964 Cessna 172 that hit the ground (the 1st time) at 90+MPH, end over 2x and we all walked away solely due to seatbelts. Yup it hurt, but it only hurts if you're alive.

Crushed sternum or skewered, either one is something I'd do all I can to avoid. After seeing the aftermath of a steering column embedded in a dead guy who didn't die right away, if I have a choice, I would do it. Looks mean nothing to a dead guy.

 

Yes, I think a few u-joints in the system kinda results in the same protection of a collaapsible column.

I think the main concern is with columns that are rigidly connected/integral to the steering box. With these, a violent front-end impact could propel the column into the driver much easier than a steering system that features u-joints.

 

Maybe this will help....

 

We do build a colapsable columns in several versions here at Flaming River. Anything from our roadster/nostalgia column , regular tilt columns and now the keyed columns also.