1967 Lincoln tilt column rebuild

[LithiumCobalt]

Yeah, the ground wire is still a question for me. I think it must have something to do with early year cars. I don't know why. When I pulled the rag joint out, it did not have one and everything worked perfectly.

[JimA]

Jim, there are actually lock washers below each nut. I also reused the original metal flange pieces to spread the force of the nuts. I torqued them all quite tight and the rubber didn’t deform.

I would add lock nuts. The rubber might compress over time and loosen the lock washers.

[LithiumCobalt]

Jim, that’s a good idea. I am going to add them.

[LithiumCobalt]

Column is finally bolted back in. What a chore. It’s a two person job to get it put back in because of the angle of the gearbox. The column needs to be supported inside the car at the correct angle in order to slide the joint onto the splined end of the gearbox. One person inside holding the column and the other guiding the rag joint on under the hood. I also found out the ragjoint is keyed so it must be positioned exactly to slide on. I tried to rig up a heavy duty zip tie to hold the column inside while I maneuvered in the engine bay, but could not get the column up high enough to get the right angle. Doing all of this pushing and pulling with a NOS speed control stalk directly in the line of fire was enough to make my butthole pucker. I imagined several times snapping the end off because of not paying attention while cussing at the column to line up.

Also had a chance to clean up my steering wheel and its components. Stainless trim ring kept popping out so I used some JB weld to hold it in place. Have two hairline cracks on the back of the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock, but hard to see. Getting the wheel aligned should be fun. I know the approximate position that it should be in, but will likely need to drive the car just a bit with the wheel loosely attached, fine tune and then lock it down. We're getting there.....

Only things remaining is the fuckery under the dash. Hooking up vacuum lines, electrical connections, and bolting various supports back together and then finally putting the lower dash cover back in place.

[LithiumCobalt]

Revised cost list:

$300 Column core
75 Strip all parts
79 Custom-matched interior paint
13 Emergency switch bezel
21 Nylon flange bumper
20 "Dick" plate
20 Lower cover access plate
6 Gear lever spring
18 Replacement pivots pins with locking clips
3 Upper cover screws (universal)
153 New tilt column turn signal switch
11 Bulk closed cell foam to replace the firewall seal
47 Tilt-specific gear selector lever
34 Ragjoint repair kit
16 New ragjoint bolts

$816, so far. I have far exceeded the inflated original cost of the option in 1967, which was only $58.74 back then and $471 in today's dollars. Worth it? Absolutely.

[defrang]

Hours or Days of labor: priceless

[LithiumCobalt]

Indeed.

[TonyC]

I can relate to the headache of trying to maneuver the column onto the coupler. I think you're right; it would be easier with a second set of hands to hold the column while trying to thread the coupler on. I've been through that headache too many times in the past, the last time being two years ago...but I did it. I'm thinking I'll have to do it again soon, at least to try and install that ground wire. That has to serve some kind of purpose, at least for the column-mounted electric stuff.

I might suggest that you make sure the green wire that feeds power to the brake lights has some slack on it with the column at its maximum upward tilt. I still have problems with the brake lights failing; I fix them fairly quickly by prying the terminal a bit, as it seems to shift against the plastic of the cam, cutting off power to the rear lights. It seems that regular use of the tilt mechanism is causing the wire to twist, thus causing the problem. My current idea is to pull some of the wire up to give it some slack, so the wire doesn't twist. I'm thinking that giving that wire a bit of slack up by the switch will prevent the contact from shifting and cutting off power to the lights. Definitely make it a regular thing to check your rear-light operation by turning on the hazards; if the current to the brake lights is cut off, it will also affect the rear-hazard operation. If they flash, you're good; if they don't, you have problems. At least I learned that I don't have to disassemble the entire column to fix that; just remove the steering wheel, then fiddle with the terminal contact of the green wire at the center of the cam.

---Tony

[LithiumCobalt]

Fortunately I have plenty of slack in the wiring at the bottom, so hopefully I won’t run into that. I know when I had my convertible and replaced the turn signal switch about ten years ago the bottom wiring was pretty damn tight. Almost zero slack. Not sure what was different then to now.

Had a bit of a scare last night as I was testing things out after reassembling. Couldn’t get my headlights to work. Kept hearing the relays click, but no lights. Finally went to my wiring diagrams and had a Aha! Moment. Actuated the high beam switch on the floor and voila everything working again.

A little disappointed with the illumination of gear indicator. Seems like I only get a small sliver of light coming up through the recess around the pointer. The fixed column, the whole indicator range had some light on it. I’ll have to try it in the dark.

[LithiumCobalt]

Well, got it all buttoned up. Two small problems.

One, my inside signal indicators no longer work. No idea why that would be. Tried the emergency flashers and they worked last night and not today. I hate turn signal/indicator problems. It's the most elusive system in this car, in my opinion. All the other functions work fine and everything worked perfectly before the swap.

Two, when I go to put the car in park, the parking pawl doesn't engage unless I shove the lever ALL the way to the extreme. It easily slips down and the parking pawl disengages. The shifter stops and does not progress to reverse, but still! Very dangerous! Going to check my service manual and then may stop into trans shop to see if linkage is tweaked or something. Tried the parking brake and realized the rear brakes won't hold! SOB. Another thing for the list.

[TonyC]

Well, with my recent experience I can help out with the parking brake.

I think your guess about the parking position of the shifter may be right; the link at the transmission may need tweaking. That is actually not that hard to do, especially if you have a means to get under there safely (which is really the tricky part of that adjustment).

I recommend checking all the wiring connections for the turn-signal switch, to make sure nothing is out of place. Also, make sure the connections are all secure; even if the wires are properly aligned in their harnesses, it's possible for either the male or female connector to dislodge, causing a malfunction. As for the dash indicators, I hope I'm wrong about this, but there could be a design flaw in the replacement switch. I remember Ron Baker mentioning that the reproduction switches he sold were not done exactly right, and as a result the dash indicators would not work when the hazard signals were in use. If that gaffe has never been addressed, then that means you'll have to learn to accept that. But if the dash indicators don't work at all, that will make diagnosis even more difficult. I don't have that with Frankenstein because the wiring for the dash indicators and the hazard signals is different, causing me to not use nearly half the wires of the '67 switch I have in place. But I still remember the experience I had with my grand's Man-Of-War, which was a '67.

---Tony

[LithiumCobalt]

Thanks, Tony. Without a working parking brake and not being able to trust the parking pawl position, I am not comfortable trying to get under the car. I'll see if I can somehow do gymnastics from the top or roll into a shop and have them do the adjusting. My suspicion is that it will be almost impossible to undo things from the top. I'm not even aware of how the shift linkage is held together down there. If it's a push-nut or something like that, guaranteed have to do from below. The shop manual, of course, does not have good image of the area and the language is the usual cryptic nonsense.

I am pissed about the inside indicators not working. They worked flawlessly on my car.

[TonyC]

Oh, I know, Nick; I was not at all happy that the dash flashers didn't work anymore in the hazard setting when I had to replace the turn-signal switch on the Man-Of-War. But with the short-circuit I caused that fried the brake-light circuit in the old switch, I had no choice (that's a bit of a story).

I'll try to simplify what the manual says about shifter adjustment. First, that is a job that must be done from underneath; you cannot reach anything you need to reach from the top. Essentially, the linkage has a bolt-and-nut fastening to the shift arm at the transmission. The bolt is fitted into a bushing on the transmission shift arm that holds it in place but allows it to rotate, and it's cast so it fits into the "needle's eyelet" at the end of the link, keeping it from spinning when tightening the nut down. To adjust the linkage, first place the column shifter in the "D" position. Then, the shift arm on the transmission needs to be placed in its actual DRIVE position. You do that by disconnecting the link, then shift that arm all the way down, then slowly back up two positions (you'll feel each position as you shift). You then re-attach the link and tighten the nut, without moving either the column shifter or the transmission shifter. And you're done; you then should be able to shift into all positions perfectly. Of course, you also have to be 100% certain that the bushing between the shift tube and the linkage is in place and intact; otherwise, you'll never get the correct adjustment. But I'm assuming that is not an issue, since you had to deal with that when installing the tilt column. That tip there is primarily for others who have to deal with similar problems.

For the parking brake, the first thing to check will be the tension adjustment of the cables; that is done under the car as well. You'll see the main cable, from the pedal, go to a splitter that is suspended under the rear cone of the transmission, which has two more cables going from it to the rear brakes. Yank on each of those cables, one at a time, to make sure they are not broken (if one or both come out of their respective sleeves, there's your problem). You will notice a bolt-and-nut setup at the splitter, which is how the tension adjustment is done. You'll want to adjust that if the pedal goes all the way down when you press it without any significant resistance. But, if your pedal already does have that significant resistance when you press it, then the problem could lie elsewhere. If you don't know how old your shoe linings are, get new ones. My problem with the parking brake was that they would hold the car if it was pointing down a downgrade, but not if it was pointing up an upgrade. On top of that, I began feeling a shuddering in the rear brakes, like an earthquake. That was what prompted me into replacing the shoes, even though the old ones still looked to have a lot of meat left on them. Not only did new shoes do away with the earthquaking, but they also cured the grab problem with the parking brake; now Frankenstein will stay in place pointing down or up. Of course, that means taking the wheels and drums off. When you do, but before you start taking anything apart, take pictures of each side so you know how to put them back together properly. The manual doesn't get into that intricate of details, so you need visual aids; I always rely in visual aids if I have to do anything inside the rear brakes.

---Tony

[LithiumCobalt]

Well, problem #3 appeared yesterday. The spring tension for the tilt mechanism somehow dislodged itself. Not a huge deal, but now I’ll have to pull the steering wheel and try to get it back into place.

Tony, thanks for the descriptions of the linkage adjustments. I actually had a look from above and can see what you mean now. I MIGHT be able to do this from the top. I am going to try at least.

[LithiumCobalt]

Problem #2 solved. A lot easier than I anticipated. Thank you Tony for the description. Followed your description as well as service manual procedure and adjustment went perfectly. Didn’t even need to get the car off the ground. The nut that needs to be loosened is easily accessed right under the driver side floor in the side of the transmission. Loosen nut, remove attached support arm, place gear selector in drive, find correct “drive” gear by cycling through the actuator on side of transmission, slide arm back on and lock down the nut. No more shifting problems.

Problem #3, I believe the tilt spring is just too weak. Popped the steering wheel off and everything was still attached just fine. Spring load without the wheel attached works just fine, but with the steering wheel attached, the spring just cannot hold it up. Hopefully a new one of these is easy to source.