Little did I know what awaited me as I reassembled the column (I was thinking because I had dropped a shift collar flange screw (yes - Ford part #3461 the square headed one) down into the column between the auto shift sleeve and the outer sleeve -- I would have to remove the complete column assembly to retrieve it). I found that by taping a rare earth magnet (o'reilly's $4) to a straightened wire hanger I could slip the magnet down between the column shaft sleeves and pulled out my flange bolt. My first block was eliminated.
\Next, after dealing with all the wiring and placement of the new turn signal switch into the signal flange collar I was stumped by how the flange bolts actually worked - what did they do? They seemed to just sit in the signal flange and after tightening when I tried to marry the signal flange to the shift collar there was about a 1/8" gap between the two and no way to connect them. Spent a few minutes looking at pictures I took during the tear down and at the various sleeves in the column before I realized the heads of the flange bolts need to sit in top and lower slots of the outer column sleeve.
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| Slots on Top & Bottom of column |
Now, how to get them mounted. I spent a few days searching before I found someone that had the same question with a '65 falcon and they had two recommendations - mount flange bolt loosely into signal flange and wiggle signal flange onto column sleeve until flange bolt heads find slots then tighten - OR - tape bolts into slots and then slip signal flange onto bolts and tighten.
I loosely set the bolts and nuts in the signal flange, slipped it over the column and jiggled until the heads of the bolts slipped into the slots on the column - was NOT difficult! However, then the next challenge as I tightened everything down and slipped the steering wheel into place - no matter how much I tightened the main nut on the wheel, the wheel and steering rod were very loose, not like they had been before.
I spent the next 2 days taking apart and rebuilding the steering column, shift collar, signal collar and searching everywhere on the web for hints at what was wrong - most mustang, falcon and truck owners over the past few decades all pointed to a missing spring between the top bearing sleeve and the steering wheel as the culprit - but I didn't have a spring except for the horn spring in the pieces I had removed - I even went back through all the pictures I had taken but did not see the spring everyone was saying should fix my problem.
I looked around but couldn't find a spring anywhere until I climbed over the tools and packages sitting on the bench seat and looked down on the floor by the passenger door - there, laying against door was my spring - it had rolled off the seat sometime over the last 4 days and now I slipped it over the steering rod and mounted the steering wheel - WOW! Wheel was smooth, tight, my turn signals worked left and right, and most important for me, PARK actually stayed in PARK.
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| All the pieces are required )) |
I connected the battery and .... the horn starting blasting ))) Uh ohh, something wasn't right, I took another look at the plugs and wiring coming from the steering column but nothing looked incorrect. I connected and re-connected all 7 wires from the connectors and reseated each, verifying the cables were in the correct position, when I touched the cable to the battery the horn blared.
I compared starting pictures with what I had built, I reviewed threads on FTE about rewiring the column - there was no easy answer here so ... I pulled the horn ring ... and then the steering wheel ... I connected the battery and it beeped - I knew something was shorted somewhere, so I disconnected the turn signal switch ... still beeping ... pulled the turn signal switch up off the steering rod ... touched the battery cable to the battery and ... silence ... hmmmm, I remembered what a teacher had told me years ago - the last thing changed before it broke is what broke it - so I took a close look at the wires on the back side of the turn signal switch, compared what I saw to the broken, original switch and saw that the horn wire wasn't mounted on the new third party the same way that the OEM part had. I unbent the wire where it was connected to the switch and made sure the wire routed up over the switch and down the column. I touched the battry cable tot he post and ... no beeps!
I quickly reassembled the steering wheel and horn ring, cabled the battery and ... no beeps until I pressed the horn ring - it was working. I fired up the truck and tested the left and right turn signals ... worked great.
After 8 years of running this old truck without PARK (blocking wheels whenever I parked, using parking brake religiously, etc.) I feel a little spoiled knowing that when I slipped Ole Blue into Park she ain't gonna move until I am sitting in the drivers seat again.
