47-55.1 51 3100 shifter ideas besides column 4L65e

[leegreen]

A rag joint is OK, but only if it is a virtually straight line between shaft in steering box and column. They are not designed to deal with any angle.
They last a long time if they are installed straight and not soaked in gas and oil.

All modern versions are designed so a total failure of the rubber portion of the joint does not cause total steering loss, but that only works if the shafts are in line and stay in line.

[mr48chev]

The rag joint softens that road vibration that causes your hands to tingle after 500 mile days. They also serve to help with very slight misalignement but are not intened to make up for not having a universal joint. If you have driven one of these trucks with stock steering for several hundred miles a day you know the differnce between that and driving a truck or car with that rag joint. Borgeson sells a combination steering dampener U joint that rather solves both issues at the same time https://www.borgeson.com/vibrationreducers.html

Obvioulsly most guys on here would do a far cleaner installation now but this shifter install that showed up on FB in the past couple of days is what a lot of guys swapping to an automatic did in the 70's/80's with hopefully a lot cleaner job. Go to the wrecking yard or maybe swap meet or the donor you were junking out and get the shifter that works with your transmisson out of it and if needed build a bit of a tower to get it up off the floor and easier to reach. I've still got at least one shifter for a turbo 350 or 400 out in the shed that I saved from something. People either gave me cars or trucks or I bought them dirt cheap in the late 70's and through the 80's when I was teaching and I'd take what I wanted off them, take a few pieces off of them to use as training aids in shop class and have the rest hauled to the wrecking yard.

[dsraven]

I would say that borgeson makes a good product so use one of those vibration dampener u joints at the steering rack or steering gear/box rather than a rag joint. see if you can find a joint that will have the spline to fit the rack/box input shaft on one end and the steering shaft size/style on the other end. you may need a grommet or shaft seal where the shaft comes through the firewall as well, or will the column tube protrude through the firewall slightly and better support the shaft that way?

[dsraven]

sounds like you have it all figured out. make sure to take lots of pics as you go and post a few up for others to see how it all worked out. ididit would prolly like to see that as well since it is a common theme that most guys have trouble with so they modify their wants to match whats available from reputable manufacturers and easily installed. I'm glad you pushed through until you found a way to do it. ensure you leave enough cable length to absorb engine and trans movement under load etc, like a lot of OEM manufacturers did with their cable shifted vehicles.