Shortening the steering column

Made a lot of headway today- removed steering box and tie rod assys, the steering shaft, steering wheel, etc. The steering column tube is a bit rough and now would be the time to replace it. Does anyone know if the one listed in 4wd.com item #914054, 41-71 w/ 4 cyl., is the same size as my manual steering '73 with V-8? Hope springs eternal.

 

This is OT but does any one have any experience in using a tilt wheel to create room for us larger guys. I might try to shorten the steering column if a tilt wheel doesn't help much,

 

boy, i don't know off hand. i just had a hell of a time trying to get my replacement steering system for mine. it took me 8 months to find the p/s box, p/s box frame mounting bracket, steering shaft (cause i didn't want to spring for a nice flaming river h.d. replacement). i actually gave up hope and bought an entire yj steering set up to convert over to, then the next day a buddy called and found a 73 that burned up, he apparently didn't need the steering any more. i picked that up, and returned that yj stuff...sorry, off topic.

so you need the tube that goes down from dash to firewall? that tube on the 4wd site looks a little different (that 72-75 is a pain to find some parts for). is yours shot-too much so to clean it up and reuse it? i may be able to get that one out of the burned jeep for you if you would like, you would need to sand it down and paint it...pink perhaps? i would imagine it is the same as the tube for the p/s or manual.

please let me know if you are interested in that one i was mentioning and i'll look into it asap.
good luck

 

Yeah, I didn't think it would be, but one has to hope.