I have a 70 B body with power steering but switching over to manual. I'm rebuilding the column at the same time. When I pulled the steering shaft the inner and outer shafts were already loose (separated). I think my column may have already been for a manual car but someone compressed the shaft so it would fit a power car, since the power shaft is shorter. If you look at the pic you can see the plastic pieces corresponding with the holes in the outer shafts. But on inner column at the right side of the pic you can see the marks showing where the column was actually installed relative to the outer shaft. Does this make sense? If so I think I can orient the inner shaft to its original location based on the plastic plugs and use for my manual box.

Anyone?

How about a measurement of the parts you have with the holes in the lower half lined up with the bands of plastic in the top half? I'll wager 80% of the members have never seen or disassembled a column that far , never mind could identify it from a photo of about a 1 ft section of it .

Sorry ...

I'll get some better pics and measurements up this evening.

1970 B-body with power steering

Post deleted by I_bleed_MOPAR

first pic is of inner and outer shafts separated. You can see the 2 plastic sections on the inner shaft and how they align to the holes in the outer shaft. I "think" this is the length for a manual column. I always thought there was only one pin, and the pins aren't really pins but bigger plastic sections that have a small "pin" extrude through the outer shaft hole.

closer pic

How long is it ? I have a PS shaft from a plymouth at home but won't be able to measure it till later today ...

Looks like 44" ?

But judging by the picture Bill put up that is a manual shaft, the lower section that the coupler attaches to , the very last secion that is welded to the part that slides up into the upper shaft , is longer on the one you have vs the one Bill pictured.

this pic is how the shafts were oriented when I removed from the car. the inner shaft was loose. You can see the markings on the inner shaft that show where the shafts were in relation to each other. It looks like someone compressed the shaft about 3.5", maybe to convert to power steering? I'm switching over to manual, can I just reinstall the shaft with respect to the original plastic locations?

I've also been told for a '70 that the outer shafts are different lengths for power and manual, with respect to the welded ends. here's a pic of mine, looks about 7.5" inches. I've always thought these were the same.

Looking at GTX's pic it seems there are different outer shafts for power and manual. His looks about 4" from weld to end of shaft for a power column, mine looks like 7.5" from weld to end of shaft.

John, 45" overall length in the original position

The small plastic pins that are sheared off now were just there for the original assembly at the car plant. It's a telescoping shaft, and the plastic pins helped hold the length of the shaft assembly, so it wouldn't separate or fall apart during shipping or assembly when installed into the car at the plant.

As most of us know and probably obvious (but it wasn't mentioned yet), it's a telescoping shaft, a safety feature, during a frontal impact accident, the shaft will collapse and it won't push the steering wheel into your chest cavity. Whatever you do, don't weld the shafts together, it's intended to be a slip fit joint and lining it back up to the original location with the correct shafts for your steering setup is ideal.

I would say you have a manual steering shaft there. I took a look under the hood of my car and it appears to be about the length you have. If you look at GTX6970's there is about 3.5" between the weld and about where the center pins for the shoes would be. Yours looks to have about 1.5 to 2.0 inches more.

Yes, mine was a manual shaft that someone had compressed to a manual length. I mocked up the column with the shaft in the original position and it fits perfect with a manual gearbox.