Steering shaft mod

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Steering shaft mod

Postby ellis93 » Fri Jan 06, 2017 3:52 pm

First off......spare me the safety issue talk and just scroll on if that's what you have on your mind. I'm a decent welder and know how to burn in my welds.
But! If your like me and tired of dicking with the occurring (reoccurring with me) slack in the steering shaft of our trucks but don't want to pay the high dollar price.....or just have more time than money (me) then this is for you. I've purchased the inner guts of the factory coupler and have rebuilt it twice. Both times it's lasted a few years and then started making slack again. It's a zero deal and an aggravating one......taking up slack in a steering wheel,rocking it from bump to bump,driving like a drunk....it's not my idea of comfortable ride. So I wanted to fix it.....fix it without spending 200$

Looking around I found a link to this http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway- ... ,6632.html on Facebook. I believe oldestof11 shared it and I was quick to save it to revisit when I had the time.
Ended up purchasing one off of eBay for 19$. A dollar saved is a dollar earned......same part.
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Basically the hardest part of this is finding out just how long you need your shaft to be. What I did was to disassemble the turd factory coupler and knock the crosspin out of the shaft. Reinstalled the rag joint and shaft on the steering column yoke and installed the new coupler on the gear box. Holding the shaft over the new coupler,I marked the shaft where it would be almost flush inside the yoke of the coupler (the weld on side). I then cut the shaft,slid the coupler on and mocked up the assembly.
This is where I came to the realization that the factory shaft is turned down to around 1/2" from the 3/4" right where the weld on yoke will sit. Damn. Turns out it wasn't that big of a deal. I called O'Reilly's and found some cylinder head dowel pins that would shim the 1/2" shaft section out to the 3/4" yoke hole. So I tacked the dowel to the shaft,then mocked the whole thing back up. Tacked it,pulled it back out
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Before I welded it up solid I removed the other yoke and joint. I didn't want to burn that little feller up

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Finished production
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One thing I will mention our gearbox spines look like this
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The one on the left
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The horizontal space is where I put the set screw in the outer yoke

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Silver nut/black Allen screw

Keep in mind this will allow movement needed to remove the shaft in the future.
93 D250 ,5 speed,4.11s,k&n autometer tach pyro trans boost guages,GDS 60mm h1c 14cm,honed 5x10,hplp/reg,1/8 timing,M+H M2 fuel pin, tims cooler tubz
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby PToombs » Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:30 pm

I don't see a place to allow movement of the shaft if the cab moves. When the cab moves on the mounts the shaft needs a place to slide so it doesn't put pressure on the gearbox. Maybe back the set screw off a little so the yoke floats on the splines but can't come off? I don't see why a Borgeson shaft is $200 either, it's crazy.
Looks like a slick job other than that. 8)
pete

Just enough power to break everything behind the crankshaft.
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby ellis93 » Fri Jan 06, 2017 6:53 pm

PToombs wrote:I don't see a place to allow movement of the shaft if the cab moves. When the cab moves on the mounts the shaft needs a place to slide so it doesn't put pressure on the gearbox. Maybe back the set screw off a little so the yoke floats on the splines but can't come off? I don't see why a Borgeson shaft is $200 either, it's crazy.
Looks like a slick job other than that. 8)

I was thinking the rag joint would take up some cab movement. If the cab moves more than that rag joint will flex,then the trucks got bigger problems than just a steering shaft.
I had actually thought about grafting a telescoping shaft from an old Chevy or the like Pete. Only one thing keeps me from it.....ford and Chevy actually made theirs out of substantial stuff instead of chicken crap. I measured the 82's steering shaft and it was almost 1 1/2" around. Most yokes are 3/4 and 1" inside diameter,leaving one to weld to the outside of the yoke. The shaft would be flipped/reversed from its original orientation to allow its rag joint to meet up with the dodge column.

I'll ponder on it some.
93 D250 ,5 speed,4.11s,k&n autometer tach pyro trans boost guages,GDS 60mm h1c 14cm,honed 5x10,hplp/reg,1/8 timing,M+H M2 fuel pin, tims cooler tubz
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby stuffy » Fri Jan 06, 2017 9:58 pm

I used that same part and I'm pretty sure I remember some telescoping above the rag joint
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby ellis93 » Sat Jan 07, 2017 11:33 am

stuffy wrote:I used that same part and I'm pretty sure I remember some telescoping above the rag joint

Mine has a spring around the shaft protruding from the column but it won't move. If it was intended to move....its frozen where it sits.
93 D250 ,5 speed,4.11s,k&n autometer tach pyro trans boost guages,GDS 60mm h1c 14cm,honed 5x10,hplp/reg,1/8 timing,M+H M2 fuel pin, tims cooler tubz
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby PToombs » Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:58 pm

I kinda forgot about the rag joint, that will give some. The column shaft isn't supposed to move unless you are in a crash. Up inside the tube part the shaft is 2 pieces sleeved inside each other, and held by plastic injected thru a hole. I had mine all apart when I swapped from a regular to a tilt column.
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby DodgeFreak » Mon Jan 09, 2017 6:13 pm

Dakotas had a telescoping shaft. BUT I don't think I would worry to much about it because if I remember right the Dakota has a bolt to lock it down which defeats the purpose of sliding for body movement.
92 D350 Cab and Chassis. Auto stock, wiring gremlins. 330k miles
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby ellis93 » Tue Jan 10, 2017 4:16 am

Honestly I think I'll be looking for some pto shaft (or the like) with an outer diameter no bigger than 3/4. My tunnel vision has me looking a grafting different steering shaft tubing but not at other sources. I'll figure it out.
So far this is working like a champ. No strange issues to show.
93 D250 ,5 speed,4.11s,k&n autometer tach pyro trans boost guages,GDS 60mm h1c 14cm,honed 5x10,hplp/reg,1/8 timing,M+H M2 fuel pin, tims cooler tubz
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby DodgeFreak » Tue Jan 10, 2017 4:29 pm

between the rag joint and the ujoint flexing I don't see a problem unless your cab mounts are gone. The ONLY problem would be in an accident and if it shoves the steering column through and pokes you in the head instead of collapsing. I'm sure you could make it out of what ever you wanted. wouldn't take much to weld the rag joint onto a pto shaft like you mentioned.
92 D350 Cab and Chassis. Auto stock, wiring gremlins. 330k miles
92 W250 Ext cab rotted completely out. Auto, pump maxed, 215 ppump nozzles, Denny T2 pin.
85 D350 single wheel, converted to cummins, getrag, turned up 2 turns and afc screw flush.
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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby DMan1198 » Fri Jan 13, 2017 10:17 pm

Here's what my 8 year old borgeson steering shaft looks like if you want a reference for what you want to make.

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Re: Steering shaft mod

Postby stillsmokin » Sun Feb 26, 2017 8:11 am

I welded joints on the steering shaft of both of my trucks. Haven't had any issues to date. I figured there is movement enough in the bottom of the steering column if it really needs to give. All the slides in the borgeson shafts sieze in this country FWIW.

I marked everything where it need to be and remove it from the truck to tack the joint. No need to disassemble the joint. Then I submerge the joint in a can of water (except where I need to weld) using the steering shaft to hold everything in place. I burn in a good hot pass and leave it set till cool. All the heat either rises into the shaft or dissipates in the water. I have done several and never had any issues.
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