MTFCA Forum

I'm in the process of trying to restore a 1914 steering column. So far, I've had nothing but problems. The riveting tools that Ford used must have been at least one ton. I'm going to take the whole column apart to get the spark and throttle rods out for brass plating as original. Getting the rivets out for the throttle rod and the two collars that retain the upper springs just don't want to come out, even with another adult helping me. I would like anyone who has had one apart to share their experience. The late columns are a piece of cake compared to this!

I drilled them. Used a drill just a bit undersized for most of the length. Then used a “pin punch “ that just nicely fit into the hole. Oh, and drilled off the head as well.
Consider getting the rods GOLD plated!! They will never tarnish again and the cost should be very similar. I did this to the ones on my 13 over 20 years ago

Larry-
Remember they are riveted AND soldered together.
-Keith

I'm finally having some luck. First, you need two people. For the two levers, and the upper two spring retainers, I file down the riveted nub almost down to the lever or retainer, and used a very short broken off 3/32" pin punch. A standard length punch will break off due to the force required to drive it out. Today, I plan to drive out the two upper quadrant rivets, which shouldn't be too difficult?

Upper quadrant rivets are good ones to do on a milling machine where you can clamp the column and precisely align them so they can be drilled out (drilled hollow and punched out, ideally) without drilling into the shank of the gear case. If the existing quadrant and gear case shank is absolutely tight to the column tube, then the rivets are usually in there good and tight too!

You don’t want to take any chances with a decent original quadrant. The repros are unusable.

Today is the big day! I have all the rivets out except the quadrant rivets. Hopefully I'll not have problems with those. This has been quite a project, way harder than the later columns. What I did with all the spark and throttle rivets was to file the heads down until the remaining portion of the rivet was paper thin. I then used the remaining portion of the 3/32" drift punch to drive them out. The riveting machines Ford used must have had a great deal of pressure, because if you file them flush, you can't even see the outline of the rivet.

Hi Larry, I followed step by step part I & part II. It was a success. Very well presented.


The link: https://modeltfordfix.com/restoring-a-m ... ng-column/

Picture when is done, hope that help.

Thanks for posting! I've done a 1925 steering column, which is similar, but must less difficult. This '14 column is way more involved, and I have come up with some interesting ways of driving out the small rivets that hold the spark and throttle levers to the rods. I see from the above photos the spark and throttle rods appear to be solid brass, which I don't intend to do. I'm willing to bet they don't have the holes pre-drilled for the spark and throttle levers? I'm going to have the original rods brass plated part way down as original. The brass plating doesn't show in the engine compartment.

Hard, oh yeah! I restored a 12 column and could never get the column and basket hot enuf to solder even using acetylene and a rosebud tip. I wound up using epoxy to glue everything together, rivets included.
I tried to solder twice and only succeeded in blackening the parts requiring hours of buffing. That column was a mess. The holes in the base where the rods and column pass thru were enlarged, the flange at the firewall had an extra hole drilled thru it and the spark and throttle rods needed to be replaced. Plus the rivets were smashed. Jeez!!!

Hard, oh yeah! I restored a 12 column and could never get the column and basket hot enuf to solder even using acetylene and a rosebud tip. I wound up using epoxy to glue everything together, rivets included.
I tried to solder twice and only succeeded in blackening the parts requiring hours of buffing. That column was a mess. The holes in the base where the rods and column pass thru were enlarged, the flange at the firewall had an extra hole drilled thru it and the spark and throttle rods needed to be replaced. Plus the rivets were smashed. Jeez!!!