The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk steering column brace

I have finished the mechanical on my 1950 1 ton and been using it as a daily driver for the last couple months... I just passed the 1000 mile mark with no problems to date..

My question is about the brace from the firewall to the steering column. I took the steering drop apart and retightened the mounts and put a new gasket between column and drop (homemade rubber gasket but same thickness as what was taken out)... still the brace makes an real annoying creak as the truck moves and flexes... I can feel it easily by putting my hand on the drop as I drive.... everything else is pretty rattle free so the steady creaking noise is getting old..

is there some kind of alignment step to get this brace to stop creaking and groaning?

is the clearance between the steering column and drop supposed to be real tight or should the column have some ability to slide or move?

should there be any special gaskets, washers, spacers, etc between the mounts and dash (where it mounts underneath)

Is any of this supposed to be lubed before assembly?

I have it apart a couple times and still has a serious "creak/groan".. everything looks correct and tightens up fine.. just making sure Im not missing something

other than that's its been great driving the old beast again...

Take the strap and gasket completely off and drive a ways holding the column down away from the dash. No squeak then you know for sure. They make oil impregnated webbing you could trim to fit as a gasket, only it might "weep" if left in the hot sun. The steering shaft is one piece and the mast jacket is pressed into the steering box so driving without the brace for a short way is not dangerous. Any change in alignment would have to be where the box mounts to the frame and IIRC the box mount bolts go through both the side and top flange of the frame so very little movement there. I guess you could use shims in the cab mounts to move dash further from frame.

coilover brings up a good point about the cab mounts. You need to check the gaps on the front and rear cab mounts and make sure that they are within specs. This will position everything for the steering mast to line up properly. Once you do this you can fine tune the gap between the mast clamp and the bottom of the dash with washers. You shouldn't have to put a lot of pressure on the mast while tightening the clamp bolts.
I would not mess with the steering box-to-frame bolts.
Carl

Have some time today so updating some old post

I found the problem and the creak/groan is gone in the dash. The problem was i had made a sleeve gasket for the steering column drop and it was too thick. When tightening the steering drop it clinched the steering column so tight it acted like it was solidly attached to the frame... When the frame/body flexed the drop was solid so something else had to flex.. Hence the creaks/groan... Ordered the correct rubber sleeve which has some clearence and everything quieted down... Glad it was a cheap easy fix..