Steering column swapping...

[rusty ol ranger]

I just bought an 87 Ranger.
I also have my old 87 ranger i retired years ago...

The 87 Ranger i bought has cruise and tilt, my old 87 Ranger does not.

The column on the one i bought has a large amount of wobble like the old tilt columns got over time, and i have no keys for it...

My question is, can i swap in the non tilt/non cruise column into the truck i bought, and just swap steering wheels to keep the cruise? Or are the plugs or something different? I did it on an 89 F250 a few years back but didnt pay attention to the cruise issue because it didnt work anyways. Plus i dont give a poo about tilt.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Nothing different except for the friction switch that runs on the back of the steering wheel and its attached harness and the steering wheel/center cover.

You might pop the covers off and check, often the loose first gen steering column is caused by loose bolts. You have to take I think the turn signal switch off but it is easy to just retighten them. Or remove and reinstall with locktite.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Nothing different except for the friction switch that runs on the back of the steering wheel and its attached harness and the steering wheel/center cover.

You might pop the covers off and check, often the loose first gen steering column is caused by loose bolts. You have to take I think the turn signal switch off but it is easy to just retighten them. Or remove and reinstall with locktite.

Ok, ill be ripping into the column on it saturday, ill check into that. I know the F series columns i done i never could quite figure out the source of the wobble.

 

[adsm08]

I am not too certain of the particulars, but I know there are differences. For one, as 85 said, the contact ring is different between the two. The non-cruise has a single ring while the cruise has a double.

I'm sure it is something that could be swapped from one column to the other, but I have never looked at it too close. Every early RBV I have owned had both options, or neither.