Auto Floor Shift back to Column Shift

[JaxLax]

Found a project with a swapped in auto with floor shifter, but the original 3sp column is still in.

How hard would it be to swap back to a stock auto column (he has one from an EB)? It runs and drives and has a stock power steering box.

All I can see is wiring changes, linkage, and maybe a new rag joint? Neutral safety switch?

Tell me it's easy and cheap. Lie if you have to.

 

[Rustytruck]

Make sure the C-4 has the proper Bronco specific shift lever. Otherwise its the Bronco column the shift rod between the column and the tranny, The down shift rod. Carb has to have down shift lever. The neutral safety switch, the steering rod between the steering box and the column. when the auto was introduced the wiring was changed and the horn was now operated through a relay so if you don't have a 73 or later wiring harness in the truck you will have to deal with this issue when you swap the column.

Most aftermarket cable mounted floor shifters have a hokey way of dealing with the reverse lights and neutral switch using micro switches so you will have to deal with undoing that if they chopped into the factory harness.

You don't say what year truck and harness your dealing with.

 

[JaxLax]

Make sure the C-4 has the proper Bronco specific shift lever. Otherwise its the Bronco column the shift rod between the column and the tranny, The down shift rod. Carb has to have down shift lever. The neutral safety switch, the steering rod between the steering box and the column. when the auto was introduced the wiring was changed and the horn was now operated through a relay so if you don't have a 73 or later wiring harness in the truck you will have to deal with this issue when you swap the column.

Most aftermarket cable mounted floor shifters have a hokey way of dealing with the reverse lights and neutral switch using micro switches so you will have to deal with undoing that if they chopped into the factory harness.

You don't say what year truck and harness your dealing with.

The C4 came from another donor Bronco (unsure of year).
The current column is a 72 3sp. The donor column is also of year unknown right now (I'm in negotiations).
I figured the wiring would be messed up as the dash is a rats nest. I've done Centech and RF rewires in the past, so I know it's not going to be easy and perhaps easier to run fresh from the column and cut/bypass the current stuff. [I will eventually rewire the whole thing]
And I really don't care about the horn.

Just trying to make sure I know what's ahead of me if I jump and don't want to get caught with $100 to fix a $1000 swap.

But thanks for the response and thoughts!

 

[Rustytruck]

With the replacement column being an automatic you have your old steering wheel and its column, The 1974 automatic column and its steering wheel and the 1975 and later column and its steering wheel. There is a miss match problem relating to the horn switches so the steering wheel must match the column used. I don't know if the 73 automatic used which horn system. In 74 the emergency flasher moved off the dash and into the steering column along with the horn wiring change. You can tell on the column by the black pull out switch by the shift lever. If you are going to rewire none is a really big deal as long as you know what you got and the steering wheel functions match the column you are going to use.

 

[JaxLax]

If you are going to rewire none is a really big deal as long as you know what you got and the steering wheel functions match the column you are going to use.

The only issue being I may not do the rewire right away and I'd want to do the column swap straight off the delivery truck.

EVENTUALLY I'd clean up the wiring, but I'd want to drive and collect parts for a while before ripping into the wiring so I can make all the changes at once rather than piece by piece. But I will be adding two aux panels (one ign hot and one always hot) so future additions/subtractions won't have to be chopped into the main panel for power/switching.

 

[Viperwolf1]

The wiring would plug right in if it was a '73 column. '74 and later column would require some work to get the horn and new hazard switch working. Other than that you just need to match wires. I can't say what you would need to get the lower shaft connected as you obviously have some unknown modification there already.