I had been dreading the task of removing my control column for some time, but deemed it necessary to try and get rid of some control system free play. Where the upright column is rivited into the "T" at the bottom, it was pretty loose - rivets worn, I assume. Anyway, the seat frame, etc. had already been removed in preparation for replacing the window welting and to make it easier to get to some areas with loose rivets on the belly skin so I figured it was now or never. It was amazingly simple.
I unbolted the U-joints from the top of the column, unbolted the attach points at the bottom "T" (another area of wear), disconnected the throttle cable from the quadrant, disconnected the hand brake cable and carb heat cable bracket on bottom of instrument panel and disconnected the panel end of the brace between panel and firewall. I also had to remove the fuel shutoff valve from the bottom of the nose tank and a cross brace that the floor panel attaches to near the master cylinder. I pushed the bottom end of column toward the firewall and the top end tipped fowward, clearing the bottom of the instrument panel and it just slipped right out. Now, granted, I had already removed most of the cockpit interior and it was very time consuming to get to that point, but it was soooo much better than removing the nose tank through the top skin and all that entails. This is on a 1948 E model and I don't know how that compares to earlier models - or for that matter, if everything was "standard" on my aircraft but it was much easier than the nightmares and worry I had endured while dreading tackling the job. Regards, Darrell Jenkins N94857
