Conversion: B-body steering column in an A-body

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73SwingerBuild

73SwingerBuild

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Well, last night I completed the swap of a B-body power steering column (from a '72 roadrunner, floor shift) into my '73 Swinger with a manual steering box. I wanted a column without the column-shift lever and I didn't want to collapse and extend an original, unmolested A-body power-steering column.

Issues met during the swap:
The steering shaft needed to be shortened just a hair, which was convenient because I manage to accidentally collapse the B-body column during my test-fits (a blessing in disguise?). Also, the lower steering column support plate (underneath the column) and firewall plate needed to be re-used from the original A-body column to mount the B-body column in the correct position.

My only question is this:
If I collapsed the column slightly to make it SHORTER, are there any safety issues that I am overlooking, or will this setup work fine? The way I look at it, the column is pre-collapsed, so any front-end collisions that send the steering box toward the driver will already allow the steering shafts to collapse in on each other.
Thanks all for viewing.

-Mike
 
Interesting. I wouldn't think the sheered pins would be a problem but I cant say for sure.
wonder if the F,M,J, tilt columns would transplant to a-body ?
 
Do you have the dimensions on the tilt columns? I know the A-body manual steering box requires a shaft length of approximately 40-3/8", without the coupler.
 
I've done the same thing, but I had an a-body power steering shaft for the car I was building. Mine was a 67 Charger column into a 67 Barracuda.
 
Yeah, I would've liked to find a shaft that was collapsible and the correct length, but time and money are of the essence. I'm being evicted from my lift (apparently my dad forgot what it was like to crawl under a car to do an oil change...), so I need to be able to turn the wheels so I can move it around. Maybe if I find one cheap I'll swap it out, but I think this system will work fine. Still just want to make sure I'm not overlooking anything simple based on collapsing the shaft.
 
RedFish said:
Interesting. I wouldn't think the sheered pins would be a problem but I cant say for sure.
wonder if the F,M,J, tilt columns would transplant to a-body ?
Click to expand...

interesting you say this because i bought a bunch of parts from a local dood, one of them is a tilt column from a 76' aspen that he said worked great in his 72 Duster. i don't have another one to compare it to but a tilt wheel would be kinda cool :glasses7:
 
I measured mine from the end of the steering collar (where the steering wheel bolts on) to the end of the steering shaft where it goes into the coupler. If we can gather enough information on different columns, perhaps we can start a new thread on inexpensive alternatives to overpriced A-body floor shift columns.

For example, cost of floor shift B-body powersteering column: $0.00
Or as Monster Garage used to say, "FREEBIE!"
 
An extended/ collapsed column MAY have very well been the situation in my old RR. This was in the mid 70's so excuse the old mind getting foggy.

Sometime around 72 I yanked the PS out of the RR and stuck a manual box in there. I do NOT remember changing the column, an it VERY well might be that I simply extended or collapsed the shaft, as case may be. Since this is a telescoping "keyed" assembly, unless you extend it far enough to weaken the integrity of the inner/ outer shaft, I don't see the problem.
 
I can see where extending the column (power steering to manual steering swap) would be an issue, as it shortens the contact area of the inner shaft to the outer shaft. However, collapsing the shaft to a shorter length should not affect it negatively, as is the case of putting a powersteering B-body shaft in a manual steering A-body application.
 
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