<VV> Tele steering Column. TMI?
Sethracer at aol.com
Sethracer at aol.com
Fri Aug 24 01:56:01 EDT 2012
There are three different telescoping columns - excluding the actual
wheels. Four if you include the wheels. In 1965, the telescoping column was
offered at the beginning of the model year. Those columns use a unique steering
box and should be kept as a set, but the column will attach to a late-65 66
box, with some very slight mods. All 65 telescoping columns had the
two-spoke woodish wheel, prone to crack at the points of the spoke attachment.
The 65 telescoping column has a .625"-36 spline on the bottom tip, with a
flat on one side. That spline matches the 65 tele column steering box and is
the same spline as the late-65 and all 66 steering boxes. On the 65 the box
and column are mated by a solid steel coupler with a bolt at each end to
tie the two splines together. In about May of 65, the steering column and
steering box was redesigned to add a alignment coupler which might also add
safety in case of a front end collision. This design was carried on through
1966. The actual coupler was used on the 67-69 columns as well, but
re-located down by the box. The 67-69 Telescoping column is unique, very pricey,
and also very rare. I won't address that model here. The late-65 and 66
columns have a different tip design from the early 65. We mostly see them with
the coupler still attached. The stamped steel coupler is about 2.5" in
diameter, about three inches long and is attached via a complex system of
blocks, seals and snap rings to the column. It has a female spline which slides
over the steering box spline and has a single clamp to retain it. When you
remove all of the coupler mechanism from the end of that column, you have a
3/4" shaft with a hole drilled through the end (a pin is pressed through
the shaft and the coupler covers the pin and snaps into place. At the other
end of the column, there were two different designs of steering wheels
offered with the telescoping column in 66. The exact same design as the 65, with
a two-spoke woodish wheel is most common. A second, cheaper, design
offered a painted regular style wheel (but with no outer horn ring like a normal
Monza non-tele wheel), but it still offered the telescoping feature with
the rotating center bezel around the horn button. Several of the parts on
this wheel are unique to this style and can be hard to get. Personally, I
think it looks ugly, compared to the woodish wheel. But that is just my
opinion. The major feature of the late-65 66 style telescoping column is that it
works with any late-65 or 66 steering box. There is no unique steering box
offered for the tele wheel in late 65-66, as was required for the early-65.
Smitty, this usually makes the 66 style column worth a bit more, because it
is a bolt-in for any late 65 66.
Prices on the market? If with a complete upper control set-up locking
ring through horn button, but not including a perfect 2-spoke wheel. Usually it
includes a wheel with cracks. An early-65 should go for about $450. With
the appropriate steering box in good shape $550. The 66 column should also
go for about $550. It need not have a steering box. A perfect 2-spoke
original or perfect repaired wheel should add $125. The bare wheel costs more on
the market, but we are talking about the difference in cost on a column
assembly. A 66 column with the painted wheel will probably be less, usually
around $250 to $300. It can be converted to a Wood Wheel, but those parts add
more than $200 to the cost - if you can find them. A final note on the
plastic wood wheel. The design is prone to cracking at the sides, because of
in and out movement at the top and bottom of the wheel. GM caught on and 67
and newer wheel were all three spokes, like the more common Corvette. If
you have a good two-spoke wheel - and want to keep it that way, don't use it
in daily driving. There are several (8-10) great looking aftermarket wheels
which are designed to replace the GM wheel -exactly! you can have real
wood or leather, starting at about $100. Look for wheels designed to fit the
Corvette of that era. They also fit the Corvair tele-column hub, and are
very easy to switch out, like 5 minutes. So drive it daily with a leather
wheel and show it with the stock plastic wood one on the weekends. Lots of the
small parts of the adjustable portion at the top of the Telescoping column,
in fact almost all of them, are common to the 65-66 Corvette - The good
news about this commonality is that lots of those parts are available at
reasonable costs. The bad news - for us, is that the Corvair tele-column can be
modified to fit the Corvette, and the Corvette guys will pay better than
us.
Sorry to be so run-on with the data, Smitty, but I thought you might want
to know.
In a message dated 8/23/2012 5:36:01 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
vairologist at cox.net writes:
Smitty says; What's a "telly" steering column worth. Ball park figure of
course.
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