Upper steering column 86 vs 87

[toddf]

Is there a difference between the upper columns on these years
I see a lot of 87 and up for sale

[wraithracing]

The basic steering column was the same from 79-89 when comparing tilt to tilt and non tilt to non tilt. The switch gear was 79-82, 83-86, and 87-89 and requires the specific column trim covers 79-86 and 87-89. So yes you can use a 1989 column in your Four Eyed Fox. You will need to swap out your turn signal, wiper switch, etc. and you will be good to go. I actually have a 1987-89 column in my 79 Pace Car and switched from non tilt to tilt in that vehicle also. Good Luck!

[toddf]

Thank You
good to know.

How much play can occur in the upper shaft,
when I check mine the lower half seems fine but the steering wheel has lots of play before the lower rag shaft even moves.

[emfab]

You will need to swap out your turn signal, wiper switch, etc. and you will be good to go.

Do you have any walk throughs or pointers on this? I'm swapping an 89 5.0 with the entire harness (front to back) into my 84 LX convertible. The placement of the switches are all up on the dash for the 89. I'd like to keep my 84 column, but the connections are baffling me.

[wraithracing]

Do you have any walk throughs or pointers on this? I'm swapping an 89 5.0 with the entire harness (front to back) into my 84 LX convertible. The placement of the switches are all up on the dash for the 89. I'd like to keep my 84 column, but the connections are baffling me.

Are you attempting to swap the entire 89 wiring harness into the 84 or just the 5.0 engine harness?

Personally I would not recommend trying to swap the entire 89 vehicle harness into the 84 as there are just too many differences between the vehicles. The front lights, turn signals, the switch gear on the column, dash, etc. the instrument cluster, the HVAC controls, not to mention the fuel gauge and sending unit for the 87-93 vehicles reads differently than the 79-86 cars. Swapping the engine harness into the vehicle is somewhat straight forward. You will have to do some modifications to make it work, but nothing too difficult.