Straight Steering Shaft

[gag1025]

In my rebuild (of a '53 Chevy truck I bought a couple of years ago) I am installing a new SS steering column with a slip shaft and two universals. I see many trucks on eBay using a solid shaft instead of a slip shaft or a rag joint. In disassembling my truck I found out that it had both parts of a slip shaft welded together. Somewhere along the way a force was generated that was strong enough to actually break the weld. I would hate to think what would have happened had it not. To me this is both unsafe as well as damaging to the steering system. Please feel free to comment.