Technical 55 chevy truck manual steering column to auto column swap?

As far as I can tell, my truck has an original 3speed manual column, which has been rigged to operate a th350 automatic transmission. (I am thinking of changing that to a 700r4)


It works.

Sort of.

In a very sloppy way.

But it isn’t what I would call “right”. There are none of the safety features that a “proper” automatic column would have.
-You don’t pull back on the lever to move it to a new position.
-There is no Neutral Safety Switch.
-There is no shift Indicator.

The only thing that I like about that is that it is an original looking column.

I am thinking that, IF I can find an original automatic column and swap this column for it, I will be able to take care of those lost features while retaining an original appearance.

Thoughts? Advice?

 

If I were in your shoes I'd be more tempted to adapt a 67-72 Pickup column to your steering box because finding an org column jacket will be pretty difficult (although that would be the best)

 

These are getting pretty hard to find, especially the tilt version like I had, and they are NOT CHEAP.
In the 90's I put one in my 66 Suburban when I swapped the 283/powerglide for a 350/turbo 350. They were hard to find even back then, but I got lucky when a friend said he had one and had no plans for it. As you said; it will greatly add to your driving pleasure.

 

I did that once, using parts mostly from a 53-54 car Powerglide shifter, with perhaps a few Hydramatic shifter parts thrown in. Quite a pain to set up, but it worked pretty well. Finding the parts will be fun...

 

Too add to DDDenny's post. Don't forget Step Vans.

 

Seems there should be a kit or a solution out there to fix this problem, Ive done similar riggings as you have now....but this also reminds me of a 57 truck I had, that I put a floor shift in, I took it to the muffler shop and had a new set of dual exhaust put on it after I got it all together, they got the pipes on and it sounded great, They let it down and I back it off the rack, and out in the parking lot but when I tried to shift it to drive, it wouldnt go because the linkage was hitting the new pipes.....so put it in park and told the guy that put the pipes on what was going on...so he slides under it while the truck is still sitting there running, gets ahold of the linkage and pulls it in reverse backing the front tire against his chest, I grab his foot, dragging/slinging him in a circle to get him out from under the truck, then have to run and catch my truck thats heading backwards out into the street
....all was well except for the long haired dude that put my pipes on was still white as a ghost, and my nerves werent that great either....I told him not to worry about fixing the pipes to pass correctly, I would do something different with the shifter , I unhooked it, started it in drive, drove home and did something different later but Whew!

So yeah, Things need to be right

 

Affirmative on the van column.
Though they are slightly different ?Length?

 

Chop saw

 

Maybe look up some posts by olscrounger about how he sets up a stock '40 Ford column shifter with gates, neutral switch, etc for an auto trans. Yours should be somewhat similar with the external shift mechanism.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

No No No. That's Chevy into Fords not the other way.

 

I see that you have now placed a wanted ad for an OEM automatic shifter. Be advised that as far as I know, Chevy and GMC only offered hydramatic transmissions for these trucks and that shifter is all wrong for what you want. You need to start with what Squirrel said, a 53-54 passenger Powerglide shifter in order to look original inside the cab. You could possibly use this as-is with the PRNDL only indicator. If you want the additional 3,2,1 locations, you will need to modify the detent plate and the indicator.
Eddie

 

Thanks Guys,
Thank you for your input!!
I have no idea what the difference between the Powerglide shifter and the Hydromatic shifter would be. Kinda surprised that they aren't simlar.
Squirrel, your adaptation is beautiful. I was guessing that you used the earlier other parts because that is what you had available. I didn't realize that the 55 stuff won't work at all.
I think I am ok modifying an indicator, and may even be able to figure out how to modify the detent, once I see the parts on the workbench.
But I guess I do need to change the wanted ad .
Before I do that, let me ask if I need a complete column, or just the shifter hardware for the 53-54 car?
Anything else I need to be thinking of?

 

Here is a link to the shifter mod I mentioned earlier. Good pictures of the detent set-up. Something similar could possibly worked out with your existing shifter stuff.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/40-ford-stock-column-modification-update-3.1108418/

 

The shifter and the column are separate items. The column is the same for all the different transmissions.

Sent from my Trimline

 

I am building a ‘58 for a friend of mine and his truck had the hydro. He is changing to a manual trans. I saved all the automatic parts attached to the column. I could ask if he is willing to part with it.


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After an unfortunate incident I added a Lokar neutral safety switch to my '58. It would probably be a prudent addition for your hybrid column set up

 

The best source I've found for those is old van nosed campers, almost all I've seen are tilt. And they are still relatively easy to find.

 

on the one I did I used the original NS switch. Although I think it's only a Park switch, it doesn't engage in Neutral.

looks sort of like this, if you can't see it in the earlier pics I posted

 

Thanks!
I definitely want a Neutral Safety Switch.
I'll look into both types when I get closer to putting things together.

 

Lots of good ideas and advice.
I didn't know how clueless I was regarding this project.
I don't know how to thank you enough.
B

 

Not sure how the reply got caught up with the quote.
Technology is great but ...
No wonder that I like old cars better than the new stuff.

 

does limeworks have a kit for this?

 

Didn't know about Limeworks.
Very nice stuff.

It looks like they DO have a kit that will solve the problem, but I REALLY like the "original" look, like squirrel has done, (Do you prefer "Jim" or "Squirrel"?) so I am planning to go through the pain to make up something like that. Pretty sure I am going to be asking a lot of "dumb questions" as I go. Please bear with me.

 

beware that doing something like this requires that you know about safety issues that you have to deal with....you can kill yourself and others if you mess up the shifter design or installation.

 

Different dog but same basic program. I have a 700-R-4 in my 51 Vicky and connected the Stock 51 Auto shifter that was a 2 speed unit to it and have full range of gears. Took some work and a bell crank to change the travel ratio from shift lever to trans arm travel. It works grate, locks in P and N, as well as drops into 1st gear when pointer is on L on the crown. I also have the stock N safety connected. You can do it too with the Glide or Hydro unit. I think the Hydro has R on the bottom of shift travel where the Glide is just out of P location. The Crown is just Plastic so maybe a new make over for that piece for yours. When the Stock look is what looks best it's hard to go late model just to get one job done. No way would a tilt column and late steering wheel would be Okay in this driver or yours.

 

Good job. Those early Ford-O-Matic columns make really slick hot rod columns, if you want turn signal and a column shift without looking modern. Too bad most all of those cars were stick shift.

 

I have the top piece for a GMC hydro.send me your email and I'll send you pictures.

 

Hi Guys,
I finally got my shifter done, after way too many setbacks, unforeseen issues, and stupid mistakes, but it looks like it came that way from the factory, and it works like it should.
Many, many thanks to all of you who gave advice and pointed me in the right direction.
Part of the issue was that I was also incorporating the Limeworks detent kit into the project. Lots of little custom fixes needed on both the shifter part and the detent part.
I wrote the process up with lots of pictures, and would be happy to share it with anyone interested. It's kind of long (27 pages) so I'm not sure it would be a good idea to "post" it.
Thought you might like to see a couple pics though...

 

Wow, that came out nice! And it clears the huge W motor