steering column too short

Can anyone tell me the factory measurement from the end of the blue tube to the alignment hole on the shaft on an A-body manual steering column?

I can't, but the nylon pins that hold the inner shaft from collapsing into the outer shaft (not the housing) frequently shear, causing the shaft to become too short. Those pins are part of the mechanism (besides the perforated housing above the firewall plate) that allow the column to collapse in a fron-end collision.

Might have to disassemble column to check if the inner shaft can slide in to/out of the outer shaft.

It happens often because of using a hammer or other forcing method on the coupling of getting the shaft to seat in the housing during assembly.

I could be wrong, however...