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1968 Steering Column problems...

3K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  haggis905 
#1 ·
The car in question is a 1968 Mercury Montego, C6, column shift, with power steering. Disassembly to get at, C9AZ-7347-A Lower Steering Column Tube Bearing, and perform maintenance, revealed a broken one of these, see pic. I have the shop manual, but the parts diagram doesn't seem to match up, or have all the parts labeled, or have them properly labeled. So my questions are...

1. Can anyone point me to an online parts diagram for the steering column for my car?
2. What is the name of the part which has the red, blue and green arrows pointing to it?
3. Where can I buy a new one?
4. If I can not buy a new one, what other part can I make work, or what other material can I jury-rig together to make it work?
5. If/when I do find a new one, how do I get it on the shaft? It won't slide off now over either the steering wheel end or the gear box end, I'm stumped.
6. The neutral safety switch activator pin broke during removal. See picture, where can I also buy one of them?

Thanks!

Note, the blue arrow shows the tabs which were broken off, the red arrow shows a crack in the part, the green arrow is from a pic/post I found at another site, its just another angle of the same part somehow removed from the shaft. Here is an activator from the time period which is for a Ford truck, it is made from metal as mine should have been, however it doesn't look like it will work, anyone know?
https://www.ecklers.com/1965-79-ford-pickup-truck-neutral-safety-switch-actuator-pin-48-48472-1.html?

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#2 ·
The car in question is a 1968 Mercury Montego, C6, column shift, with power steering. Disassembly to get at, C9AZ-7347-A Lower Steering Column Tube Bearing, and perform maintenance, revealed a broken one of these, see pic. I have the shop manual, but the parts diagram doesn't seem to match up, or have all the parts labeled, or have them properly labeled. So my questions are...

1. Can anyone point me to an online parts diagram for the steering column for my car?
2. What is the name of the part which has the red, blue and green arrows pointing to it?
3. Where can I buy a new one?
4. If I can not buy a new one, what other part can I make work, or what other material can I jury-rig together to make it work?
5. If/when I do find a new one, how do I get it on the shaft? It won't slide off now over either the steering wheel end or the gear box end, I'm stumped.
6. The neutral safety switch activator pin broke during removal. See picture, where can I also buy one of them?

Thanks!

Note, the blue arrow shows the tabs which were broken off, the red arrow shows a crack in the part, the green arrow is from a pic/post I found at another site, its just another angle of the same part somehow removed from the shaft. Here is an activator from the time period which is for a Ford truck, it is made from metal as mine should have been, however it doesn't look like it will work, anyone know?
https://www.ecklers.com/1965-79-ford-pickup-truck-neutral-safety-switch-actuator-pin-48-48472-1.html?

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Hi 68tego,

Not sure about 1 through 5, but when I was looking for neutral safety switch actuator I got in contact with two yards, both had the entire columns that you could purchase. The places are Desert Valley Auto Parts in Nevada, the other is Turner's Auto Wrecking in Fresno California. Desert Valley has several donor cars, not sure about Turner's, but he did say he has at least one.

The neutral safety actuator is impossible to find, I have searched for a year or two for one. I finally bought a 3d printer in the hopes of finding an old one that I could measure and then print out some new ones. If you give me the exact specs (use a digital caliper) and I can get it to print, I will send a couple out to you, or if your going to toss the one you have, send it to me so I can measure it and I will send a couple back your way.
 
#3 ·
Hi Haggis905, I'm sorry about the delay in responding. I haven't checked the site in a few weeks, and just now saw your reply.

Thank you for the leads on the columns, if I screw up the re-installation, I may need to go that route. My solution was 3d printing. I didn't purchase one, but used a guy offering 3d printing on Ebay at a reasonable price. I couldn't find anyone local willing to do such a small one-off batch. I sent him the parts, and he sent me back multiple new copies. I was quite satisfied with the Neutral Safety Actuator, which looks and feels virtually identical to the original, but not so much with the column insulators. They might have worked, but I discovered West Coast Classic Cougar in Oregon carries remanufactured insulators which appear to be exactly the same, so I went that route.


So hopefully I'm all set, but thank you so much for your generous offer.
 
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