another steering column thread/question

[ChadW]

I've been researching the column swap and see lots of people go with a 70s van tilt column to retain the dash key...All the ones i see like this are column shift though...

What can i use for a column swap for to have tilt wheel, dash key and floor shift in a 66 c10...

[oldtrux]

Ididit
Retrofit specific for our trucks

[The Rocknrod]

Ididit has the only ones 'I know of' that are vehicle specific to this series truck.

[ChadW]

Well...what really constitutes the need to change out the column? I guess my column is ok just doesnt have tilt, but the turn signal lever doesnt seem to work right, just falls down when pushing up etc etc (truck was/is in pieces as its a project) Can they be rebuilt? Any reason to swap a column?

[franken]

Some like a tilt because the wheel is in a poor position for them. Others because it's a feature. If the wheel is in a good place for you, no need to swap.
You can almost certainly fix what's wrong. Sounds like the TS switch is dead. https://www.google.com/search?q=gm+t...utf-8&oe=utf-8

Stock wheel?
Horn work?
If you hold the TS in the turn position while returning to center does it click indicating it's trying to cancel?
Do the TS work?
If you have 4-ways do they work?

$50 to fix what's there is a lot less than a new/different column for $8 billion, and a van column has gotchas. I swapped a manual truck column into my 72 because the later auto column had the shifter mount. That was back when things were priced lower.

BTW, a truck column is shorter and has the spline right at the end of the tube, while a van column shaft sticks out ~6". 67 and up I think used a collapsible intermediate shaft (to keep drivers from being impaled in a front crash), while 66 and lower a straight shaft all the way down.

[vin63]

In my case, installing an Ididit Retro tilt column solved a couple of issues: I was able to push the column back toward the dash a bit since the stock steering wheel/column was too close to me; and, this also helped with the stock steering wheel contacting my legs while driving and getting in/out of the truck.

They can be rebuilt, but I found the benefits of the Ididit column outweigh any cost savings in rebuilding the stock column and still having to deal with the positional issues of the column and steering wheel.

Originally Posted by ChadW

Well...what really constitutes the need to change out the column? I guess my column is ok just doesnt have tilt, but the turn signal lever doesnt seem to work right, just falls down when pushing up etc etc (truck was/is in pieces as its a project) Can they be rebuilt? Any reason to swap a column?

[andyh1956]

Knock the pin outta the shifter, remove shifter handle & epoxy / bondo the hole up. works great!