The decision to keep the 1996 steering column or use the 2012 one was primarily driven by wanting to have everything functional on the car. The mechanical adaptation of the 2012 steering column to the 1996 chassis was easier than the electrical adaptation of the 1996 column to the 2012 electronics.
The 2012 column wasn’t exactly a “bolt in” affair since it came from a G4500 van chassis, however where the column mounts to the dash was the same between the two vehicles. This made it relatively easy to just splice them together. The 1996 column had the correct length and interface to the firewall so it was used from just inside the firewall out to the steering box – no modifications at all (though the shaft is really close to the engine)
Once the “outside” part of the column was installed, the inside part could be lined up and cut to the correct length and welded together. This effectively made a hybrid steering column that interfaced with the 1996 steering box, firewall and dash but has all the 2012 electronics and controls to interface with the new powertrain.
There was a specific sequence to the assembly of the two columns. The 1996 column has a series of 3 concentric tubes. The outer one is the structural part, the middle one is for the shifting of the automatic transmission and the center one is for steering. Since the center one will no longer be necessary (2012 column uses cable operated shifter), it was removed from the outside part. The 2012 inner and outer tubes are conveniently the same diameter as the 1996 which makes things much easier.
The inner tube was welded first – the two parts were chamfered and held in line by a couple pieces of angle iron to insure they were straight and true. They were TIG welded full perimeter with reinforcement. Then the outer tubes were done in a similar manner.
Once complete, it bolted in just like it was meant to be. I kind of like the black & tan look – it doesn’t look too out of place and has a nice contrast to it.
Ok – now we’ve got steering that goes from wheel to wheel! Next up is addressing the power assist. Thanks for reading!
Fix Until Broke 