The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Steering Box

I'm needing to replace my steering box (non-power) for my 56 1/2 ton but have a couple of questions that I thought I'd put out there....

1) I spoke with a very helpful tech from American Classic and he said that boxes for 4 speeds are hard to come by. I could use a box for a 3 speed - the only difference is that it has a couple of holes for the mounting of the column shifter... I'm not sure if the holes are on the bottom or side. Worse comes to worse I suppose I could fill the holes... anyone use a 3 speed box for a 4 speed?

2) Shafts apparently come in two different lengths.. 33 (and change) or 36 (and change) I was told to measure right above where the shaft enters the box at the collar up to the steering wheel....

3) When I pull the box will the shaft drop out in the space between the axle and frame or is this a bigger job than I think??

Any other thoughts??

Thanks!

Hy Larry Bear, If your steering wheel is flat which it should be if it's a 56 then you have the long shaft, as for the two holes if you don't need them don't worry about them. As for taking it out the bottom it can be tricky, jack her up as high as you can before you start, hope that helps.

Thanks for the info 3B... a couple more follow on q's:

When I measured the shaft it came out to 33" (+change)... I measured from the box collar to the firewall (6"+change) and from the inside firewall to the steering wheel (26"+change)... the tech rep suggested the measuring. Is there more shaft inside the collar that needs to be taken into account? The steering wheel is flat.

Is jacking it up to give floor clearance? I have access to a lift is why I ask.

Thanks! This is my daily driver so I don't want to get a part here, pull out the old one and have it be the wrong one!

Larry - the only real difference in the columns is the overall length - in 57 they came up with the dished wheel, so made the column a bit shorter to keep the same clearance to the driver [57-59] - either will fit and work in yer truck [possible yer truck was a late production that got the shorter column?] - replace with what ya got!!

if you have a lift, the remove/replace is a piece of cake

Bill

Hy Larry Bear, red58 nailed it, the only thing I would add is, if you end up using a short column you'll have to use a dished steering wheel, hope that helps.

OK, so not to be anal about this but it sounds like the shaft measurement takes into account addtional inches that goes into the box itself (Because I came up with the shorter measurement). I don't know when it was produced but it was #1748 off the line. The engine number doesn't help as it's a 1960 replacment. But the steering wheel doesn't have the deep dish - which I'd never heard of.

But based on yer all expertise I'll be ordering the longer one.

Hy Larry Bear, yes the measurement of the shaft includes the portion inside the box, it is a one piece welded assembly, hope that helps.