lower steering column bearing

Well I did some more detective work and came up with a new part number for an 86 Dodge B250 which this 'should have' came out of. New part # is 4147318, about $12 at the local dodge dealer.

I had to special order it so it won't be here until Monday because of the holidays. I will post a picture of it and hopefully this is the one I am looking for.

To add more confusion to this mess...

I compared this column to my original column out of a 72 Demon (column shift) and its slightly different...obviously.

The shafts are the same length however the outer housing is about 5 or 6 inches shorter on the unknown column, making me wonder if this will even bolt up correctly. I examined the collars some more and it looks like they are from a '73' model year from the numbers in the casting. I dont know if thats what it means but on other chrysler parts thats the meaning.

Is there any way to identify a column by its length??? or numbers on the main outer housing?