wanting to replace my fire wall I got stumped with the steering wheel removal or the entire steering gear is that neccassarey?
The whole column must be removed😙
No idea why my I phone put those numbers and pound sign there.
It's not that hard to get the steering gear out.
I just did mine on my '20 last week to finally resolve a "slop issue" with my steering box inside the quadrant. All I had to do was take the pitman arm off and disconnect the spark/idle levers, unbolt it and out she came! Took all of half an hour. And I got the slop fixed too! All is good!
On my '12 it was super easy, as I have that firewall out for an engine rebuild...I just left the column on the firewall and away it went!
Only part of the job that is a pain is removing the spark lever at the bottom of the spark rod. You have to this to clear the bracket. If the bracket is left attached to the steering column, it will not pass thru the firewall. If the lever has never been removed, you generally have to drill the rivet out. Easy to mess up the hole in the rod. Best to drill just a short bit into each end of the rivet, then try to pound it out with a small drift While supporting the end of the rod. Like a say, it can be a pain.
Richard...you are very right about the spark lever at the bottom, I overlooked that in my earlier post. Maybe though, because believe it or not, the little pin holding my rod had a bit sticking out and I just grabbed it tightly with a pair of pliers and yanked real hard and out it came! Wow was I a happy camper!
Me too about the spark lever at the bottom is the only pain part of the firewall removal.
I have often wondered why Ford didn't make the firewall opening just a bit larger or if the steering gear end could have been just a little smaller.
It would even have made assembly time a minute or so quicker when T's were assembled on the line!
A few seconds or minutes here and there!