Do I need a bearing or bushing? Steering shaft

Starting to look ahead to the tilt column swap. Since the car steers so well, I'm going to leave the stock box in and see how it works with a 3" smaller wheel, stock 15" GM vs Lincoln 18". I have a 80's GM tilt column I want to swap in. Mounting it is no big deal, I can figure that out pretty easy. What I plan on doing is shortening the stock steering shaft and putting a U joint between the GM column and the stock shaft. There in is the question--------do I need to put some kind of bearing or bushing inside the stock column housing to support the shaft at the now cut end? I figure the shaft is supported at the steering wheel end now, and with a straight U joint, no bends, I just don't know if a bearing will be needed since the shaft will end just shy of the firewall, or if the end bearing of the GM shaft is enough to keep everything straight.

If I need one, what will be the best way to retain it so it doesn't just end up walking down the shaft to the gear box?

The way mine worked out, after bolting my top mount to my dash frame with the shaft connected at the steering box, I don't think I would have needed the lower bearing I put on mine. But mine was really straight forward and all the parts are available at Tractor supply. I had a simple 1 3/8 thin walled column and the shaft was 3/4" . The bearing I found was perfect. Pillow blocks to fit the bearings too. I will probably put a short bracket to the firewall there too. Right now, my lower bearing is being held in place by a collar around the shaft. I went to grab a pic of mine but photobucket was doing maintenance...I can give you shot later.

There should be a bushing in the lower end of the GM column now, so if you have to shorten the column maybe take the bushing out and reinstall it in the remaining column. I think I've seen a universal bushing advertised somewhere, maybe Speedy Motors. I think you will need a bushing or bearing at the bottom. My two cents.

steering

I used a tilt colum outta a Chey Astro van. My problem i had was to make it longer, very long! The steering box was on the outside of them frame. So i had to zig zag the rod. Took a lot of grey matter to do, but steers great. If you have to cut away the bushing, a pillow block works great i've seen a lot of them used.

Let me go back, maybe I wasn't clear...........the GM column will not be changed other than whatever it takes to mount it. The Lincoln column and shaft is the one getting cut, and where I might possibly need a bushing/bearing. I don't think I need a pillow block, since there will only be 1 U joint, and everything remains straight.

Sounds kind of similar to what mine wounf up being. The pillow block mentioned was used on mine as a top mount, but I mentioned it as another avenue you could use to hold it in place if you chose to put as lower bearing in. The only reason I put one in on mine was to eliminate any chance of a rattle between the column and shaft. My shaft doesn't do anything but spin. I don't get any side to side and it's probably overkill...it's still there. Right now the bearing is only supported by a collar seen in the pic.


While checking around trying to find parts to mix and match a fit for changing splines or styles of shaft ,ie.Double D or splined, different splines,,, I kept running into after-market u-joints that had weldable options...I made my own there. 3/4" 1018 rod, turned it down to make it inside the splined joint and welded in place. I can still remove it fairly easily as it is still splined at the other end of the u-joint.

I see your U joint is at the box. Mine will be about 12" from the box, about 4" from the firewall. So I will have about 12" unsupported unless I use some kind of bearing/bushing in the end of the factory shaft column.

I know what you mean on the U joint sizes, they can be confusing. Speedway says a stock GM double D is a true 1", while a Flaming River or other aftermarket column is slightly less than 1". I will have to find out how big the factory shaft is before I can order a joint. I'll weld the lower end, but use a slip joint on the column so if I ever do go with power steering I can just slide that joint off and use another to match.

if you are only using one u-joint you shouldn't need a support bearing. Normally a support bearing is only needed when there are more than two joints in the system.

Bama, Now I see where you are wondering about putting a bearing; just below the U-joint that's 12" from the steering box. I don't think you need one there because the steering column shaft from a Ford steering box is solid [no joints] so the bearings in the box will support the shaft for that little ways.
On a partly related issue, I think GM steering columns have a resister wire in the ignition so that the wire going to the coil only carries 8 volts in the on position. You probably have a resister on the firewall now to reduce the ignition voltage, so if you wire them both in the system you will only have about 4 or 5 volts to run the coil. That's not quite enough. Could you do some homework on this topic, or maybe some of the guys on this forum can straighten us out? This might all be one of my half baked theories, but I have a Buick column in a Mercury truck and I have had my grief with the ignition until I jumped past the firewall resister. Food for thought, anyhow.
Good Luck.

Mine is hei, and my column should be new enough to not have a ,resistor.
Thanks for the bearing info, I kinda thought it would be ok without one.