Weird steering mod... kind of

[Skunksmash]

So this guy puts a jeep steering shaft in, to help with all that play that these trucks are so bad about. According to him its some kind of big help. Thoughts?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9C4RdvjPNQ

[Squareforceone]

been discussed on here plenty just use the search bar you'll find all you need to know

[dman1982]

this is very interesting....does it really help that much???? i might just try this

[Cherub]

yea if you have a bum rag joint you will notice it. Its a cheap mod i do to my c10s

[Tx Firefighter]

You can likely replace your rag joint cheaper, unless someone just gives you the shaft for free.

[1774btcrew]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

You can likely replace your rag joint cheaper, unless someone just gives you the shaft for free.

You can buy the jeep shafts at the wrecking yard for $15-30 so they are actually pretty cheap.

[Tx Firefighter]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=614332

[Skunksmash]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=614332

Hmm... very interesting thread thank you for creating it.

But I'm struggling to understand the point of the rag joint. To look at that jeep steering shaft, it makes you wonder why it even exists. What could that rubber actually be doing? I'm... I don't get it. Why would you need this big mass of rag joint when you can just go straight to the box, and have nothing that will go bad?

I am tempted to do the same repair you did though. Only thing is, I really don't have any way of knowing if mine is even bad. I do have excess steering play, but that doesn't mean its for sure the rag joint. To clarify, you did say that the entire job only took you 30 minutes, right?

[Billy81]

The jeep steering shaft mod wouldn't work on my 76 C20 it would not fit on the input shaft on the steering box. I did not know that some of the steering boxes used different sized input shafts with different spline counts. Some are 3/4" 30 spline but most are 13/16" 36 spline. My 76 had the 3/4" 30 and the jeep shaft was way too big.

[Jonboy]

I put one in mine when I did the front suspension. Worked out well for pushing the truck into the garage.

[v30crewcab]

they are like $10 at pullapart yards around here. I run them on everything. way better than the stock junk. rag joint will never be as tight as these.

[franken]

The rag joint rebuild kits have been condemned as unsafe by a supposed former GM engineer due to the bolts tightening on rubber. Sorry, for the nonreference.

A new rag joint is around $90 if I recall after reading the above, possibly nonsense.

Do a web search and decide which direction to go...

Actually, I think the issue is our trucks aren't (typically) rack and pinion like newer, or the vehicles some drive daily, so the feel is different. Also, the feedback and effort of newer PS is more better than that of the old one finger PS.

[Billy81]

Originally Posted by franken

A new rag joint is around $90 if I recall after reading the above, possibly nonsense.

Have you priced a NOS GM rag joint lately? Or one from Borgeson, Flaming River or IDIDIT. Sure Dorman makes rag joints for around $50-$60 but the quality is not that great. The only one that Dorman sells that would fit my truck caused my steering wheel to be upside down. I ended up having to buy this one from Jegs and at the time it was $79.99 http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performan...07050/10002/-1

[Tx Firefighter]

I'm sure Keith Seymore would know more specifics, but it's generally held that the rag joint absorbs some of the shock through the steering system to the wheel.

I believe strongly in GM engineering and retained the rag joint out of respect to that. I feel that GM trucks are the nicest driving trucks ever made. I do have experience with "solid" , non dampened, steering shafts like the Jeep one from some past street rods with Mustang II suspensions so I know it works well also.

[Skunksmash]

I would agree about the nicest driving. Not sure what the comparison is between newer stuff but imo they have a tendency to ride a lot better and not be quite so stiff. Dodge is the worst! My neighbor bought a brand new one a year ago and I rode in it. I would have taken it back, it rode so rough. Or never bought it. The more I learn about dodge the more I know why they're the cheap stuff.

[Skunksmash]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I'm sure Keith Seymore would know more specifics, but it's generally held that the rag joint absorbs some of the shock through the steering system to the wheel.

Used your guide and replaced the rag joint. Took me about an hour though cause I've never done it before.

Mine wasn't as bad as yours, but it did have a couple cracks that would have likely turned into something worse given some time. My holes weren't quite as waller'd out as yours were.

And I saw you live in springtown. I'm not too awful far from you, I'm in Cleburne. Course I might have mentioned that before... can't remember...

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Skunksmash

Used your guide and replaced the rag joint. Took me about an hour though cause I've never done it before.

Mine wasn't as bad as yours, but it did have a couple cracks that would have likely turned into something worse given some time. My holes weren't quite as waller'd out as yours were.

And I saw you live in springtown. I'm not too awful far from you, I'm in Cleburne. Course I might have mentioned that before... can't remember...

Thank you for telling me that. I'm very glad that someone got benefit from the article. Money saved is money that can be spent on more truck parts. Or hookers, or whatever.

[86Eric]

Does anyone know what model Jeep and year period that he swapped it in with? I would watch the youtube video but it is not accessible on the computers here. I too am interested in the swap since my K10 will be my daily driver so the more comfort I can add, the better.

[1774btcrew]

Originally Posted by 86Eric

Does anyone know what model Jeep and year period that he swapped it in with? I would watch the youtube video but it is not accessible on the computers here. I too am interested in the swap since my K10 will be my daily driver so the more comfort I can add, the better.

The ones I have pulled have always been from the 1984-1996 Jeep Cherokees. Hope this helps.

[Irish1941]

What he said.
NOT the Grand Cherokees. The square plain ones 2dr or 4dr.
Here's one I put in my truck. Notice the location of the lower pinch bolt.
That's dead straight aligned. Top one is 45 opposite of the bottom, on the top of the column with steering wheel straight. This only works on the later trucks. '81 or '82 I think was the change.

[oilmanpat]

I have been building Street Rods for 25 years and was always taught that you kept the u joints inline or phased to avoid problems. The youtube video shows the joints turrn45 degrees from one another. ???????

[Irish1941]

Phasing u-joints is to cancel out vibration caused by u-joint harmonics.
Your steering shaft won't spin enough times or fast enough with them out of line to cause a problem.

[Skunksmash]

Yeah I went ahead and replaced the rag joint cause of what he said about them engineering it to ride nice. In the end its just a trade off. Which do you want, more comfort or less maintenance. I like driving the truck and I find that the less comfortable it is, and the less luxuries it has, the more excuses I find to just drive my newer stuff instead. Also I chose to go with more comfort since it seemingly takes those rag joints about 20 years to die. Maybe less if you put a ton of miles on your truck.

[C10wip]

I am guessing the effect is different ( better and more noticeable ) if you have manual steering; I think TX Firefighter's writeup ( which is very good and complete btw ) appears to show PS. On my manual unit the Jeep shaft seemed to improve it well beyond just removing the slop.

[1774btcrew]

Originally Posted by Skunksmash

Yeah I went ahead and replaced the rag joint cause of what he said about them engineering it to ride nice. In the end its just a trade off. Which do you want, more comfort or less maintenance. I like driving the truck and I find that the less comfortable it is, and the less luxuries it has, the more excuses I find to just drive my newer stuff instead. Also I chose to go with more comfort since it seemingly takes those rag joints about 20 years to die. Maybe less if you put a ton of miles on your truck.

The upper u joint on these does have some sort of rubber dampener where it goes over the shaft. So I am sure this absorbs some of the vibrations. I know this as I considered just shortening this shaft instead of collapsing it some.