steering column

[drytoast]

The other day I'm driving down the road and the guy in front of me is in no hurry so I'm day dreaming about a blower under the hood and blowing his doors off because I can't pass him in with the traffic coming the other way, anywho I look down at my steering column and its leaning towards the left. Is this normal for a 1972 f-100 with power steering? Everything seems normal, it drives straight, turns with ease. Is this a problem a need to be concerned with? Did some short fat guy pull it over trying to get in the truck everytime ? Thanks in advance Todd

[TheEskimo]

It is completly normal, they came from the factory that way.

[drytoast]

Thanks. todd

[FORDification]

Here's a couple images just for the visual:

This one is taken from the 1970 Body Builder's Layout Book. You can see the relationship between the steering box location and the steering wheel.


In this shot, the camera is on a direct centerline with the steering box's input shaft. You can see how the column would be slightly offset to the left.


And here's one I took of my F100 4x4 parts truck. You can see how the angle exists in these trucks as well.

[drytoast]

Thanks Keith, It makes you scratch your head a little as to why ford would have built it that way. Must be fit and finish wasn't as important back then as it is now.

[Hawkrod]

Thanks Keith, It makes you scratch your head a little as to why ford would have built it that way. Must be fit and finish wasn't as important back then as it is now.

I am not sure what you mean by that, fit and finish standards were very high back then which is one of the reasons these trucks are so well regarded. Fit and finish would have nothing to do with design. If a column was designed to be at an angle then fit and finish would require it to be at an angle and if it were straight then it woud be a failure of fit and finish. It was designed and engineered off center solely to fit the space properly and has nothing to do with fit and finish. Hawkrod

[kugelbake]

Thank goodness for this thread! I was about to break out the torch and a whole bunch of shims to correct my left-leaning (communist?) steering column. Now I'll just go back outside and bolt it down where it wants to sit.