Tilt Steering

[abasile]

The Adjustomatic Steering Wheel was a $48.00 option in 1964. Does anyone know if the entire column is different or is this just added on to a normal column? Also, does it interchange to a Ford, GM or Chrysler part?

[Gunslinger]

I believe it's an entirely different part. I know the turn signal switch is different. As far as I know it doesn't interchange with anyone else's steering column, though I guess it's possible that some internal parts of the mechanism might...the same vendor may have made them for other makes as well.

The tilt wheel feature is pretty underwhelming in use...the steering wheel starts at the normal position and only tilts down. It jams the steering wheel in your lap. To be really useful with the large diameter steering wheel, it should either tilt up or use a smaller diameter wheel. I think Thunderbirds of that period equipped with tilt wheels suffered from the same design flaw. That lead me to suspect the same vendor made both...or at least the same design was used for both.

[grobb284]

The entire column assembly is different.

It is a GM design utilized on the Studebaker Avanti. I purchased a housing shell in the late 70's or early 80's from Avanti Motors. The inner mechanism came from a mid 60's GM floor shift car, a Pontiac I believe. Other GM models may also work.

The spline count for the steering wheel is different from GM to Studebaker. As I remember, the count was only one or two splines different. I cut the spline from the original Studebaker non-tilt column, and doweled it to the other tilt shaft prior to welding. The welding may have occured at the taper, and required remachining.

The only other part required was the intermediate cover on the tilt housing, which I machined from plastic at the time.

Not sure why others work only downward, seems there were at least 5 positions. It worked as many up as down.